We hope our little corner of the internet will always be a place where fun, adventure, and an awesome travel community can be found. Sometimes though, in our quest to continue to provide you guys with quality content, we have to get through some less fun stuff. Someone once told us we should make sure we have this on our site so we don’t get in any trouble of the legal kind, so here goes:

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INTRODUCTION

First off, a big, friendly, high-five to you for coming to our blog to enjoy our travels and insights and becoming part of The Common Wanderer community!

While we hope you enjoy reading our opinions, tips, and experiences, please understand that they’re just that - our own views. All of the content on this blog is for informational purposes only, and while we work really hard to ensure that all our posts are well-researched, up-to-date and informative, we make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of the content found on this site, or by following one of it’s links. We are not liable for errors, omissions, or changes to the availability of this information.

Likewise, we do not provide professional medical, legal, or other advice, and are not responsible for any losses, injuries, or damages that arise from the display or use of this information.

Whatever your views on determinism, by reading this blog you agree that you are doing so of your own free will. If you do try something we have discussed on this site, note that you are doing it at your own risk. That includes attempting white-water rafting in the bath.

Please read this Privacy Notice carefully and ensure that you understand, and agree, with it. 

OUR CONTACT DETAILS

Our full details are: 
Mark B. + Miranda F. Otherwise known online as 'The Common Wanderer'.
Our email address is hello@thecommonwanderer.com
Business postal address: Flecknoe Building, Federation Uni, Ballarat Central 3350 

YOUR RIGHTS

You have the right to: 

• be informed regarding how your data is collected and used (further details below)

• request access to the data stored and processed about you

• ask us to change and/or delete the data we store about you

• ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data

• unsubscribe to our newsletters

Here at The Common Wanderer, we take our GDPR obligations seriously. If you wish to have your information (eg. comments) removed and you're an EU resident, please get in touch with us.

If you're not happy with how we collect and use your data (as outlined below), you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues. You can access their website here: www.ico.org.uk

If you do have a complaint with how we store or use your data, please get in touch with us first so that we can try and resolve it for you first.

It's also very important that the information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. If your details change, please email us at hello@thecommonwanderer.com

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

We know you care about how your data is used and stored - because we care about it too. We strictly observe the legal provisions and regulations applicable to us under GDPR when we process your data. We're committed to safely maintaining and protecting your privacy. 

In this privacy policy, we outline the details of how we collect and process your personal data, through your use of The Common Wanderer. This includes the information you provide when signing up to our newsletter, taking part in a competition, or leaving comments on our site. 

The online safety of minors is something we take extremely seriously. We'll never knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16. If you're a parent or guardian and you believe that we have data of this kind in our database, please contact us immediately so that we can remove it.

YOUR DATA

WHAT DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU

Personal data means any information capable of identifying you as an individual. It does not include anonymised data.

We may process certain types of personal data about you as follows:

Identity Data | may include your first name, maiden name, last name, username, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.

Contact Data | may include your email address and telephone numbers.

Financial Data | may include your bank account and payment card details.

Transaction Data | may include details about payments between us and other details of purchases made by you.

Technical Data | may include your login data, internet protocol addresses, browser type and version, browser plug-in types and versions, time zone setting and location, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this site.

Usage Data | may include information about how you use our website, products and services.

Marketing and Communications Data | may include your preferences in receiving marketing communications from us and your communication preferences. We collect this data when you voluntarily opt-in by entering your personal details, and confirming the subscription to our newsletter. 

SENSITIVE DATA 

We require your explicit consent when processing your identifying data. This occurs when you submit your details, for example, when you subscribe to our newsletter. If these cases, we'll always send you a further communication asking for you to confirm your consent to this processing (for example, asking you to confirm your subscription to our site). 

That said, we do not and will never collect Sensitive Data about you. This data refers to details about your race, ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data, or criminal convictions or offences.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We collect data about you through a variety of different methods, which include: 

Direct interactions | When you voluntarily fill in your data on a form on our site, or by communicating with us via post, phone, email, carrier pigeon, morse code, telegram, or otherwise. These interactions include when you: 

• Subscribe to our newsletter, service, or publications

• Enter a competition, prize draw, promotion, or survey

• Order products or services (FYI: we currently don't have an online store, but this is something we may launch in the coming year).

• Give us feedback or send us an email.

Automated technologies or interactions | As you use our site, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and usage p atterns. We collect this data by using cookies, server logs and similar technologies.

Third parties or publicly available sources | We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below"

• Mailchimp for distribution of our newsletter

• Analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We will only ever use your personal data when we're legally permitted to. The most common uses of your personal data are: 

• To operate and maintain the website;

• To send you newsletters. Each email promotion will provide an easy opt-out button;

• To respond to your comments or enquiries;

• To track and measure statistics/advertising on the website;

• To protect, investigate, and deter against unauthorised or illegal activity.

We record this information to help us better understand your needs, and provide you with the quality service and information you've come to expect from The Common Wanderer. In particular, this applies to: 

• Internal record keeping

• Improvements to our site, products, and services

• Marketing communications such as our newsletter, full of things that we think will interest you, via the email address which you've provided. When subscribing to the newsletter, you are adhering to mailchimp’s privacy policy.

• Market research: we value your opinion, so we may occasionally contact you for market research purposes.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal ground for processing your personal data, other than in relation to sending marketing communications to you via email. If you decide to withdraw your consent to marketing, you can do so at any time either by opting out at the bottom of our emails, or emailing us at hello@thecommonwanderer.com

DISCLOSING YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below:

• Service providers who provide IT and system administration services.

• Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.

• HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities based in the United Kingdom and other relevant jurisdictions who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.

• Third parties to whom we sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets.

Just because we live our lives online doesn't mean that we'll share yours online too!  We'll never sell your information to another company or place you on a spam list (we hate spammers, we'll never be those people). We'll only ever allow third parties to access your data for the above reasons, and according to our legal obligations, and we expect them to treat that data with the same commitment to data safety.

RETAINING YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We'll only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

COOKIES STATEMENT

Mmmm, cookies. 

This site uses cookies – sadly, not the choc chip sort, which would be delicious - small text files that are placed on your machine to help the site provide a better user experience.

In general, cookies are used to retain user preferences, store information for things like shopping carts, and provide anonymised tracking data to third party applications like Google Analytics. As a rule, cookies will make your browsing experience better. However, you may prefer to disable cookies on this site and on others. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. We suggest consulting the Help section of your browser or taking a look at the About Cookies website which offers guidance for all modern browsers.

The Common Wanderer uses both "session" and "persistent" cookies.

Session cookies | These are deleted from your computer as soon as you close your browser, and help us to keep track of you while you navigate our site, increase web security and prevent fraud. 

Persistent cookies | These will remain stored on your computer until you delete them, or they reach their specific expiry date. Persistent cookies help our website to recognise you when you visit, and keep track of your preferences when using our website. It's all about helping to provide you with the best user experience, tailored to you!  

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of this website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of the cookies listed above. The information generated relating to my website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store this information. Google’s privacy policy is available at: http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html.

In most Internet browsers, you can change your settings so that you will be warned each time a cookie is being sent, or so that cookies will be turned off. With cookies blocked, some functions of the site may not operate properly

AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER

Some of the links on this website are affiliate links. If you choose to purchase using these links, we receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please know that by using these affiliate links, you're directly supporting The Common Wanderer to stay wandering, the running costs of the site, and our ability to provide you with free content to help you on your travels. That, and you're officially a legend. 

Please note that we never recommend any products or services through our affiliates that we haven't personally used, or that we don't believe are the best quality product. Basically, if we don't use it for our own travels, we'll never tell you to.

If you do click on a link on our site, please note that you're subject to their data collection and privacy policies, and we're  not responsible for these.

All of our affiliate platforms are GDPR compliant.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

We don't accept pre-written sponsored posts or direct advertising on our site, but we are open to discussions about how we can help you promote your product, in our way, in the future - as long as it remains relevant to our cause and provides value to you, our readers.

If you'd like to work with us, please get in touch.

With that said, you will never find us being compensated to regurgitate the message of the sponsor.

We have strong, reasonable opinions of our own, and you can rest assured that we will always share these with you as honestly and transparently as possible.

COPYRIGHT POLICY

We dig originality; all of the text, images, videos, and other content on this site have been produced by us (during bursts of creativity and limited procrastination), unless expressly stated. All other content has been shared with the permission of the creator, or under the creative commons licence.

This is our business, and we spend hours crafting this content to help people on their travels. Please don't steal it for your own benefit.

If you would like to reprint or publish any of our content, we ask that you follow these guidelines:

Contact us prior for written permission (we even have a fancy pen for this) and our fee schedule.

If you are granted permission to use our content, you must credit The Common Wanderer, and link back to our blog.

Whole blog posts may not be reproduced; please excerpt or paraphrase, and link back to the original post. The days of college copy/pasting are so over, don't be a lazy plagiariser!

If the above guidelines are not met, we reserve the right to file infringement notices and claim compensation.

BLOG COMMENT POLICY

We certainly encourage comments and interaction with each other on our site (and our social media channels). What we don’t encourage is negativity, vulgarity, and/or inappropriate or dangerous conduct in any of The Common Wanderer’s online spaces.

This site is a place of encouragement, celebration, and sharing, and any comments or shared content that is viewed (at our discretion) as being to the contrary, or subjects us to third party liability will be removed from this site.

Think happy thoughts, people, h a p p y !

We love hearing from you guys. We read everything you send us; comments, emails, letters, tweets, instagram comments, carrier pigeon messages - everything! Rest assured that if you do contact us, we'll keep your identity confidential. However, if we think the content you wrote was too awesome to keep to ourselves, we may mention the information in a future blog post!  

Please note, that the above privacy policies and guidelines are subject to change at our discretion or due to legal changes. We'll do our best to email you (if you're subscribed) to let you know of these changes, but otherwise do check back every now and then to confirm you're still happy with our policy.