Effective: November 2019
Tough Cookie Travel (“ToughCookieTravel.com,” “Tough Cookie,” “TCT,” “we,” “us,” “company,” “website,” and/or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy.
This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which we collect, use, maintain, and disclose information collected from users (each, a “User”) of our Tough Cookie website (“Site” or “Service”). This privacy policy applies to the Site and all products and services offered by ToughCookieTravel.com.
What Information We Collect
We may collect personal identification information from Users in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, when Users visit our site, register on the site, subscribe to the newsletter, purchase our products or services, and in connection with other activities, services, features, or resources we make available on our Site.
We will collect information that Users provide to us when purchasing any of our products and/or register to use our Service/Site. Such information may include, but not be limited to, name, age, email address, telephone number, postal address, and payment information.
Users may, however, visit our Site anonymously. We will collect personal identification information from Users only if they voluntarily submit such information to us. Users can always refuse to supply personal identification information, except that it may prevent them from engaging in certain Site related activities.
We may also receive some information that Users submit to any third party website or application that Users access through the Site/Service. Both Tough Cookie Travel and the owner or operator of that third party website will be the data controller in respect of any such information and Users should check the privacy policy of that website to find out how they will use any personal information.
Comments
When Users leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the User’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from the User’s email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if Users are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of the User’s comment, their profile picture is visible to the public in the context of their comment.
Media
If Users upload images or other media to the Site, they should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Other Users to the Site may have the ability to download and/or extract any location data from images on our website.
Interactions With Other Users
Some of our Tough Cookie Travel Services allow Users to communicate with other Users via group forums, private direct messages, or other means, in which case the Site/Services will facilitate such communications with the intended recipient. Users should consider who they choose to share information with, because anyone who can see their activity and/or communications on the Site/Services can choose to share it with others on and off our Site/Services, including people and businesses outside the audience that User may have intended. For example, when Users send a message to specific people, they can screenshot or re-share that content to others on or off our Site/Services or in-person. Also, when Users comment on someone else’s post, react to their content, or post a review on a product, that User’s comments and reactions are visible to anyone who has access to that portion of the Site/Services.
Cookies And How We Use Them
A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. Cookies may be either “persistent” cookies or “session” cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the User before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the User session, when the web browser is closed. Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a User, but personal information that we store about Users may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.
3rd Party Cookies
By using this Site, you consent to the use of such cookies and the sharing of data captured by such cookies with Google and our other third party partners. You can view, delete, or add interest categories associated with your browser by visiting: https://adssettings.google.com. You can also opt out of the network cookie using those settings or using the Network Advertising Initiative’s multi-cookie opt-out mechanism at: http://optout.networkadvertising.org. However, these opt-out mechanisms themselves use cookies, and if you clear the cookies from your browser, your opt-out will not be maintained.
Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this Site or the companion app or track conversions from Google Adwords ads. Google’s use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to Users based on their visit to our Site and/or other sites on the Internet. We publish interest-based advertisements on the Site; that is, ads that are tailored to reflect your interests. To help understand your interests, Google and our other advertising partners will track your behavior on our website and on other websites across the Internet using cookies. You may opt out of the use of the DoubleClick cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting Ads Settings.
In addition, advertisers whose advertisements appear on the Service may use and place cookies on your computer and we have no control over this. Please consult the terms and privacy policy of such third party advertisers to find out how they collect and use your personal data and to establish whether they use cookies and what they may use them for.
Comments & Login Cookies
If you leave a comment on our Site, you may opt-in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
In addition, when you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
Content From Other Websites
Articles on this Site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
How We Use The Information You Provide To Us
We will only use any information that we collect from you in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We may use your information in the following ways:
- to ensure that our Site/Services are delivered in the most effective manner for you and your computer;
- to provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes;
- to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us;
- to provide customer service to you in relation to your use of the Site/Services, to deal with enquiries and complaints relating to the use of the Site/Services and to notify you about any changes to our service;
- to administer, support, improve, optimize and develop our Site/Services;
- to produce reports which may be used, sold or published by us at our sole discretion provided that any data or reports will be anonymized and not refer to any individual user of the Site/Services;
- for internal marketing and demographic studies to improve the products and services that we provide;
- and for security purposes.
Analytics
We authorize analytics partners (such as Google Analytics) to help analyze usage and traffic for our Services. As an example, we may use analytics partners to analyze and measure, in the aggregate, the number of unique visitors to our Service/Site.
Marketing
We may also use your information to provide you with our email notifications, newsletters, and other marketing communications that either you request from us or which you consent to by opting in when completing a registration form on the Service.
You may opt out from receiving such marketing communications from us at any time by notifying us in writing, contacting us at toughcookiecorner@gmail.com or, alternatively, by following the procedure to ‘unsubscribe’ that is specified in the email that you receive.
Additional Content
Any letters, emails, blog comments, responses on Social Media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, and Twitter, or questions written directly to us may be used as TCT material for our audience unless specifically requested otherwise. (Part of) these letters or emails, questions or any other feedback may be used in newsletters, website content, articles, presentations, or up-and-coming books.
Disclosure Of Your Information
Other than as expressly set out in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise required or permitted by law, we will not share, sell, or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent.
You should note that information posted on the public elements of the Site/Services may be visible by Users of the Site/Services throughout the world. You should therefore be careful when submitting information about yourself to the Site/Services.
We may disclose your personal information: (i) to any third party to whom disclosure is necessary to enable us to fulfill your orders and provide you with any service to which you have subscribed via the Site/Services; (ii) where required to do so by law or court order; and (iii) to any person to whom disclosure is necessary to enable us to enforce our rights under this Privacy Policy or under our Terms of Service. We may disclose your personal information to Facebook Inc in order to fulfill the Services. You can review Facebook’s Terms of Service here.
How We Protect Your Information
In common with a number of other websites, the data that we collect from you may be transferred to a cloud service provider which has data servers which are based outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer and the storing and/or processing of your personal data on these servers. We will take all these steps in the Privacy Policy.
Appropriate security measures will be adopted to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. However, you acknowledge that data transmission over the internet is inherently unsecure and that we cannot guarantee the security of data you send over the internet.
Your information will only be held for a reasonable period or as long as the law requires or permits.
Accessing Your Information
You may at any time request access to and/or, if incorrect, rectification of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us, by emailing us at toughcookiecorner@gmail.com. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
We reserve the right to ask you for proof of your identity and to charge you a fee of twenty US dollars ($20) to meet our costs in granting any data access request you make.
For Users that register on our Site, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All Users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
Third Party Sites
This Site may contain links to websites or access to applications that are operated by third parties. We do not control and accept no liability or responsibility for those websites and this Privacy Policy does not apply to those websites. Please consult the terms and privacy policy of those third party websites to find out how they collect and use your personal data and to establish whether they use cookies and what they may use them for.
Advertisements contained on our Site operate as links to the advertiser’s website and as such any information they collect by virtue of your clicking on that link will be collected and used by the relevant advertiser in accordance with the privacy policy of that advertiser.
Advertisers & Sponsors Disclosure
ToughCookieTravel.com is open to forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, and other forms of compensation and/or projects. Despite this, Tough Cookie Travel will never recommend and write about products or brands that we don’t personally use or believe in. We will always disclose whether we are receiving any commissions or products for free, or if a trip was sponsored or not.
ToughCookieTravel.com is also a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
We are not responsible for the actions of our advertisers or sponsors. If you purchase a product or service based upon a link from our website, you must take action with that company to resolve any issues and NOT with our website. Any product, claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party in question.
Certain links on the website are affiliate or referral links. At no additional cost to you, we will earn a small percentage of the sale if you make a purchase through our affiliate link. For more details, please refer to our full Affiliate Disclaimer.
Changes To Our Privacy Policy
Tough Cookie Travel has the discretion to update this Privacy Policy at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page.
We encourage Users to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this Privacy Policy periodically and become aware of modifications.
Your Acceptance Of These Terms
By using this Site, you signify your acceptance of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our Site/Services. Your continued use of our Site/Services following the posting of changes to this policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.
Contacting Us
For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998, the data controller in respect of any personal data that you submit to us is Tough Cookie Travel, a sole-proprietorship governed under California law in the United States.
If you have any queries in relation to this Privacy Policy, you can directly contact us via email at toughcookiecorner@gmail.com.
Last Updated: April 17, 2021
