Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 24 July 2026
Last Updated: 24 July 2026

Welcome to Matt's Travel Blog ("the Website"), available at https://mattstravelblog.co.uk/.

Your privacy is important. This Privacy Policy explains what information may be collected when you visit the Website, how it is used, and your rights regarding your personal information.

Who We Are

Matt's Travel Blog is a personal travel blog sharing travel experiences, guides, photography, and related content.

Data Controller

For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), Matthew Alfred Jones is the data controller responsible for the personal information collected through this Website.

For any privacy-related enquiries, please contact:

Matthew Alfred Jones
Website: https://mattstravelblog.co.uk/
Email: [email protected]

Information We Collect

Information You Provide

You may voluntarily provide personal information when you:

Subscribe to a newsletter
Leave comments
Contact us by email

This information may include:

Name
Email address
Any information you choose to include in your message or comment

Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Website, certain technical information may be collected automatically, including:

IP address
Browser type and version
Operating system
Device information
Pages visited
Date and time of your visit
Referring website
Technical diagnostic and security logs

This information is used to operate, secure, and improve the Website.

How We Use Your Information

Your information may be used to:

Provide and maintain the Website
Respond to enquiries
Deliver newsletters that you have requested
Moderate comments and prevent spam
Improve website performance and reliability
Detect malicious activity and protect against abuse
Comply with legal obligations

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information.

Legal Bases for Processing

Where UK GDPR applies, we process personal information under one or more of the following lawful bases:

Consent – where you voluntarily subscribe to a newsletter or otherwise provide information requiring your consent.
Legitimate Interests – to operate, secure, maintain, and improve the Website, respond to enquiries, prevent abuse, and protect the Website from malicious activity.
Legal Obligation – where processing is necessary to comply with applicable laws or legal requirements.

Cookies

Matt's Travel Blog does not knowingly use cookies for analytics, advertising, or marketing purposes.

The Website may use only those cookies that are strictly necessary for its operation and security, such as cookies generated by Ghost CMS or Cloudflare.

Some pages may contain embedded third-party content, such as YouTube videos. These services may use cookies or similar technologies when the content is loaded or interacted with. Such cookies are controlled by the respective third-party provider rather than Matt's Travel Blog.

Because embedded third-party content may set non-essential cookies, visitors may be presented with a cookie consent notice where required by applicable law.

You can also manage cookies through your web browser settings.

If you subscribe to our newsletter, your email address will only be used to send updates from Matt's Travel Blog.

You may unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link included in every email.

Comments

If comments are enabled, information you submit—including your name, email address, IP address, and comment content—may be processed to display your comment publicly and help prevent spam and abuse.

Website Hosting and Infrastructure

Matt's Travel Blog is self-hosted using Ghost CMS running in Docker containers on infrastructure managed by the Website owner.

Information submitted through website forms, newsletter subscriptions, or comments (if enabled) may be processed and stored within the Website's Ghost CMS installation.

To improve security and reliability, all traffic to the Website passes through a Cloudflare Tunnel.

Cloudflare acts as a data processor for certain website traffic and may process personal data, including:

IP addresses
Browser and device information
Request headers
Connection metadata
Security and diagnostic information

This processing enables services including:

DDoS protection
Secure HTTPS connections
Network routing
Performance optimisation
Security monitoring

Cloudflare processes this information in accordance with its own Privacy Policy.

Third-Party Services

The Website currently relies on the following third-party service:

Cloudflare – Website security, DNS, HTTPS, and Cloudflare Tunnel connectivity.
YouTube – Used to display embedded video content. Videos are embedded using YouTube's Privacy-Enhanced Mode (youtube-nocookie.com) where possible. Although this reduces the use of cookies before you interact with the video, Google may still process technical information such as your IP address, browser information, and device details when the embedded player loads or is used. For more information, please refer to Google's Privacy Policy.

Additional services may be introduced in the future where necessary to operate the Website. This Privacy Policy will be updated accordingly.

International Data Transfers

Some third-party service providers used by the Website, including Cloudflare, may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where this occurs, appropriate safeguards are used in accordance with applicable UK data protection laws to protect your personal information.

Data Retention

Personal information is retained only for as long as necessary to:

Operate the Website
Respond to enquiries
Deliver requested services
Meet legal obligations
Resolve disputes
Maintain security

Technical server logs are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for operational and security purposes.

Data Security

Reasonable technical and organisational measures are used to protect personal information against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.

However, no method of transmitting information over the Internet or storing electronic data can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Your Rights

If you are located in the United Kingdom, European Economic Area (EEA), or another jurisdiction with applicable privacy laws, you may have rights including:

Access to your personal data
Correction of inaccurate information
Erasure of your personal data
Restriction of processing
Data portability
Objection to certain processing
Withdrawal of consent where processing is based on consent

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the details provided above.

If you believe your personal information has been handled unlawfully, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Children's Privacy

This Website is not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time.

Any changes will be published on this page, and the Last Updated date will be revised accordingly.

Contact

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your privacy rights, please contact: