Privacy policy

Last updated: August 2026

This policy explains what personal data Travelling Raccoons collects, why, and what you can do about it. We've tried to write it in plain English.

Who we are

Travelling Raccoons is a personal travel blog based in the United Kingdom. For data protection purposes we are the data controller. You can reach us at hello@travellingraccoons.com.

What we collect

• Newsletter sign-ups. If you give us your email address, we use it to send you posts. That's it. We don't sell it, rent it or share it, and every email has an unsubscribe link.
• Contact form submissions. If you send us a message, we keep it so we can reply to you.
• Analytics. We use Umami to count visits. It runs a small script in your browser, but it sets no cookies, stores nothing on your device, and doesn't follow you between sites or build a profile of you. That's why we don't ask your permission for it because there's nothing stored on your device to ask about.
• Advertising. If and when we run display ads, the ad provider may set cookies. Where that requires your consent, you'll be asked before any non-essential cookie is set.
• Affiliate tracking (Stay22). If you accept cookies, we load a script from Stay22 that turns links to hotels, tours and travel operators into affiliate links and records when a booking came from us. It's how the site pays for itself. Nothing from Stay22 loads unless you accept, and rejecting doesn't change what you can read or do here.
• Affiliate tracking (Travelpayouts). Behind the same consent, we load a second affiliate script from Travelpayouts, for the brands Stay22 doesn't cover, Go City above all. It does the same job, and to do it it stores an identifier in your browser and sends a copy of the page you're reading back to its own servers. Same deal as Stay22: nothing loads unless you accept.

Affiliate links

Some posts contain affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The retailer may set a cookie to attribute that sale. We disclose affiliate content at the top of every post it appears in, before the content itself.

Your cookie choice

On your first visit we ask before setting anything non-essential. Reject is as easy as accept, and if you reject, none of those scripts load at all. You can change your mind any time via cookie settings, also linked in the footer of every page.

We remember your choice in your browser's local storage rather than in a cookie. That one item is strictly necessary, being the only way to honour a "no", so it doesn't itself require consent.

Legal basis

We rely on your consent for newsletter emails and non-essential cookies, and on our legitimate interests in running and improving the site for basic analytics and for replying to messages you send us.

How long we keep it

Newsletter addresses are kept until you unsubscribe. Contact form messages are kept for up to two years. Analytics data is aggregated and not tied to you.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can ask us for a copy of your data, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email hello@travellingraccoons.com and we'll sort it out. If you're not happy with how we've handled it, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Changes

If we change this policy we'll update the date at the top. Material changes will be flagged on the site.