Last updated: 7 September 2026
Templeton Travels is operated by Templeton Media Group LLC (“we”, “us”, “our”). This policy explains what personal information we collect through templetontravels.com and our email newsletter, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the choices you have.
For the purposes of the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Templeton Media Group LLC is the data controller for the information described below.
How to reach us about privacy: info@templetontravels.com | Templeton Media Group LLC | 3500 8th St. SW #1035 Altoona, IA 50009, USA
What we collect
If you subscribe to our newsletter
- Your email address. We don’t ask for your name.
- The date you subscribed, and where you subscribed from, so we have a record of your consent.
- Interest tags. We may label your subscription with topics (for example “national parks” or “international travel”) so we can send you emails relevant to what you signed up for.
When we send you an email
Our newsletter records the following so we can tell whether our emails are working and keep our list healthy:
- Whether the email was delivered, bounced, or was reported as spam. This comes from our email delivery provider. Addresses that permanently bounce or report our mail as spam are automatically stopped from receiving future emails.
- Whether you opened it. Our emails contain a small invisible image, commonly called a tracking pixel, which loads when your email app displays images. This tells us that the message was opened, roughly when, and nothing more.
- Whether you unsubscribed.
If you’d rather not be counted: most email apps let you turn off automatic image loading. With images off, we cannot record that you opened the message. Doing this affects no other part of your subscription. You can also unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email.
If you leave a comment
We collect what you enter in the comment form, plus your IP address and browser user agent string, which help detect spam. If you use Gravatar, an anonymized string derived from your email address may be sent to that service to retrieve your profile picture. Gravatar’s privacy policy is at https://automattic.com/privacy/.
When you browse the site
We use Google Analytics (through the Google Site Kit plugin) to understand which articles people read and how they found us. It sets cookies and collects pages viewed, approximate location derived from your IP address, device and browser type, and the site that referred you. Where required, this runs only with your consent.
Our web host also keeps standard server logs, including IP addresses, for security and troubleshooting.
We don’t use your information for automated decision-making or profiling.
When you click an affiliate link
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you click one and go on to make a booking or purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Our Affiliate Disclosure explains the arrangement.
To make that work, the retailer or affiliate network needs to recognize that you arrived from our site. When you click an affiliate link:
- You leave our site. From that point you’re on the retailer’s site, subject to their privacy policy, not ours.
- The network sets its own cookie, typically recording that you came from us and when. These cookies commonly last from 24 hours to 30 days depending on the program.
- The network may receive your IP address, browser and device type, the page you clicked from, and — if you buy something — the order details needed to credit the commission.
What we see is limited: we’re told that a sale happened and what commission it earned. We are not given your name, address, payment details, or contact information, and we can’t connect an affiliate purchase back to your newsletter subscription.
You can block third-party cookies in your browser to prevent this tracking. Doing so doesn’t affect your ability to use the site, read our articles, or receive our emails — it only means we won’t be credited if you buy something.
What we don’t collect
We don’t ask for your name, phone number, or postal address to receive the newsletter. We don’t build advertising profiles about you, we don’t combine your newsletter activity with your browsing or affiliate clicks, and we don’t buy subscriber lists.
Why we use it, and our legal basis
Under GDPR we must tell you the lawful basis for each use of your information.
| What we do | Information used | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Send you the newsletter you signed up for | Email address, interest tags | Consent — Art. 6(1)(a) |
| Measure opens and delivery to see whether our emails are worth sending | Open, delivery and bounce records | Consent — Art. 6(1)(a) |
| Remove addresses that bounce or report spam, so we can keep sending mail at all | Email address, bounce and complaint records | Legitimate interests — Art. 6(1)(f): maintaining a functioning mailing service |
| Keep a record that you unsubscribed, so you aren’t added back by mistake | Email address, unsubscribe date | Legal obligation and legitimate interests |
| Publish and moderate comments | Comment form data, IP, user agent | Consent, and legitimate interests in preventing spam |
| Understand site traffic | Analytics data | Consent |
| Credit us for purchases made through affiliate links | Affiliate network cookies, click data | Consent |
| Keep the site secure | Server logs | Legitimate interests — Art. 6(1)(f): security of our service |
Your control over our emails
- Every email includes an unsubscribe link in the footer, and supports one-click unsubscribe in email apps that offer it. Unsubscribing takes effect immediately. You don’t need an account or password.
- We never sell, rent, trade, or share our subscriber list with anyone for their own marketing.
- When you unsubscribe we keep a minimal record — your email address and the date — for the sole purpose of making sure you aren’t re-added if we ever import a list that includes you. If you would prefer we delete that record entirely, ask us and we will, though we then can’t guarantee you won’t be re-added later.
Who we share information with
We share personal information with service providers who process it on our behalf, under contract, and only as needed to run the site and newsletter. We do not sell your personal information, and we never share our subscriber list.
| Provider | What they handle | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services, Inc. (Amazon SES) | Delivers our newsletter; processes email addresses and delivery/bounce/complaint events | United States |
| Google LLC | Google Analytics traffic measurement | United States |
| Bluehost | Website hosting; stores subscriber list, comments and server logs | United States |
| Automattic Inc. (Gravatar) | Comment profile images, if you use Gravatar | United States |
| Affiliate networks and retailers we partner with, including Amazon Associates, Viator, Travelpayouts, GetYourGuide | Attribution of purchases made through affiliate links | Varies by partner |
Affiliate partners are different from the providers above: they don’t act on our behalf, and they handle your information as independent controllers under their own privacy policies. We have no control over what they collect once you leave our site, so we’d encourage you to read the privacy policy of any retailer you go on to buy from.
We may also disclose information if legally required to do so, or to protect our rights or the safety of others.
International transfers
We’re based in the United States, and the providers above process data in the United States. If you’re in the EU, the UK, or Switzerland, your information is transferred outside your home country.
For these transfers we rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK extension where the provider participates, and on Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission where it doesn’t. You can ask us for details of the safeguard applying to a particular transfer using the contact details above.
How long we keep it
| Information | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Subscriber email address and tags | Until you unsubscribe, or after 24 months with no opens if you’ve never engaged — whichever comes first |
| Unsubscribe record (email address and date only) | Indefinitely, so you aren’t re-added by mistake |
| Email engagement records (opens, delivery, bounces) | 24 months |
| Comments and their metadata | Indefinitely, so follow-up comments are approved automatically — deleted on request |
| Google Analytics data | 14 months |
| Affiliate click and commission records | Held by the affiliate network under its own retention policy; we keep only commission totals, which contain no personal information |
| Server logs | As set by our host, typically a few weeks |
Your rights
If you’re in the EU or UK, you have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you; have inaccurate data corrected; have your data erased; restrict how we process it; receive your data in a portable format; object to processing based on legitimate interests; and withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawing consent doesn’t affect processing that already happened.
You also have the right to complain to your national data protection authority. In the UK that’s the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk); in the EU it’s the supervisory authority in your country of residence.
If you’re in California, you have the right to know what personal information we collect and how we use it, to request deletion or correction, to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, and not to be treated differently for exercising these rights.
We do not sell your personal information, and we never share our subscriber list. The one place third parties receive information is the affiliate cookies described above, which some affiliate networks may treat as a “sale” or “share” under California law. You can prevent this by blocking third-party cookies in your browser, or by using a browser or extension that sends a Global Privacy Control signal, which we honor as an opt-out request.
To exercise any of these, email info@templetontravels.com. We may need to verify your identity, usually by confirming you control the email address in question. We’ll respond within 30 days (GDPR) or 45 days (California), and we won’t charge you for it.
For most newsletter requests there’s a faster route: the unsubscribe link in any email removes you immediately.
Cookies
| Cookie | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Comment cookies | If you opt in when commenting, saves your name, email and website so you don’t retype them | 1 year |
| Google Analytics | Distinguishes visitors and sessions for traffic measurement | Up to 2 years |
| Affiliate network cookies | Set by the retailer or network when you click an affiliate link, so a resulting purchase is credited to us | Varies by program, commonly 24 hours to 30 days |
| Login and session cookies | Only set for site administrators logging in | Session to 2 weeks |
Analytics and affiliate cookies are not necessary for the site to work, and where required we set them only with your consent. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and blocking them won’t affect your ability to read the site or receive our emails. You can also install Google’s opt-out browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Our newsletter doesn’t use cookies. The open-tracking pixel described above is an image, not a cookie, and is defeated by turning off image loading in your email app.
Children
This site isn’t directed at children, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we’ll delete it.
Security
We protect information with measures appropriate to its sensitivity, including encrypted connections (HTTPS) across the site, access controls on our subscriber list, and reputable providers for email delivery and hosting. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security — but we do keep the amount of information we hold about you deliberately small.
Changes to this policy
We’ll post any changes on this page and update the date at the top. If we make a change that materially affects how we use your information, we’ll tell subscribers by email before it takes effect.
Contact us
Questions about this policy, or about the information we hold:
info@templetontravels.com | Templeton Media Group LLC | 3500 8th St. SW #1035 Altoona, IA 50009, USA