Privacy Policy

Last updated: 22nd February 2026

Privacy Policy for The Road to Timbuktu

Welcome to the least exciting, but entirely necessary, page on our blog.

If you are reading this, you are likely wondering what on earth we do with your personal details when you get in touch. Rest assured, we treat your data with the same fierce protection we apply to our passports and the last cold pint at the bar. We are just a couple of seasoned solo travellers sharing tales and tips; we have absolutely zero interest in selling your information to dodgy third parties.

1. What Information We Collect (And Why)

When you use our “Get in Touch” form, we ask for a few specific details to help us out:

  • Your Name & Email Address: Quite simply, so we know who we are talking to and where to send our reply.

  • Your Nationality & Travel Interests: We ask what type of solo vacations interest you so we can get a better feel for our readers and write guides that actually help you on your next adventure.

  • Newsletter Subscription: If you tick the box to join our list, we will keep your email on file to send you updates (whenever we eventually get around to writing a newsletter).

2. Where Your Data Goes

When you hit submit, your message doesn’t go into some massive corporate database. It goes straight to our secure webmail accounts hosted by our website provider. We don’t use external mailing list companies, and we categorically do not sell, share, or distribute your information to anyone else.

3. Cookies and the Digital Footprints You Leave Behind

Cookies are just tiny text files a website leaves in your browser—think of them as digital footprints in the sand. We use a few essential ones to keep the lights on:

  • Google Analytics: We use this to see which blog posts are popular and which countries our readers are visiting from. It counts heads, but it doesn’t tell us who you are.

  • Affiliate Links: We use affiliate links for tours we recommend. If you click one, a cookie tracks that you came from our site so we can earn a small commission (which helps keep this blog running) at no extra cost to you.

  • reCAPTCHA: We use Google’s reCAPTCHA on our contact forms to stop mindless spam bots from flooding our inboxes.

4. How to Contact Us

If you ever want us to delete your emails, or if you just have a question about how we handle your data, you can bypass the forms entirely and email us directly: