Privacy Policy

At California Crossroads, I’m committed to providing a trustworthy, helpful atmosphere for all my visitors. That’s why I’m going to explain how and why this site collects personal data, how it is used, and how it is kept secure.

FTC Disclosure

FTC regulations require me to disclose my financial relationships with all companies – plus, it’s just good to be open. I will always disclose if I am receiving compensation for a post, including freebies, comped stays or activities, or financial compensation/sponsorship.

Be aware that many of the posts on this blog include affiliate links. If you click on one of these links, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. These links will always be disclosed to you as per FTC guidelines at the top of each post.

Amazon Associate Disclosure

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Airbnb Associate Disclosure

As an Airbnb Associate, I earn when you book through my links.

Mediavine Programmatic Advertising

For information regarding data collection by Mediavine ad partners including how to opt out of data collection, please click here

Privacy Policy

California Crossroads (https://www.californiacrossroads.com) (further known as “Website”) is governed by the following privacy policy  (“Privacy Policy”). We respect your privacy and vow to protect it under GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act regulations. In this Privacy Policy, we’ll explain what personally identifiable information we may collect and how it may be used. This statement only applies to this Website.

What information we collect

Information You Voluntarily Submit: We collect personal information from you that you submit to the site, such as your name or email address when leaving a comment, submitting a contact form, or subscribing to the Website’s newsletter.

Automatically-Collected Information: We automatically collect certain information about you and the device with which you access the Website. For example, when you use California Crossroads, we will log your IP address, operating system type (Mac or PC), browser type, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times when you accessed the Website. We may also collect information about actions you take when using the Website, such as links clicked and time spent on page.  Please note: all your information has been anonymized in Google Analytics and only is viewed aggregately, not individually.

Cookies: We log information using cookies, which are small data files stored on your browser by the Website. We may use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your browser until deleted, to provide you with a more personalized experience on the Website.

How your information maybe be used

We may use the information collected in the following ways:

1) To operate and maintain the Website

2) To identify you as a user of the Website and customize the Website for your account;

3) To send you promotional information, such as newsletters, provided that you have opted into subscribing to a newsletter by voluntarily signing up. Each email promotion will provide information on how to opt-out of future e-mails (unsubscribe);

4) To respond to your comments or questions;

5) To provide you with user support;

6) To track and measure advertising and user statistics on the Website;

7) To protect, investigate, and deter against unauthorized or illegal activity.

8) To track use of affiliate links for which we may receive a commission if you make a purchse

Third-party use of personal information

The Website uses third-party service providers to operate certain functions of the Website. Every third-party service provider’s use of your personal information is dictated by their respective privacy policies.

The Website currently uses the following third-party service providers:

Google Analytics –This service tracks Website usage and provides information such as time on page, referring websites, and user actions on the Website. We collect standard details of visitor behavior, such as number of visitors on certain pages, number of visitors from specific countries, gender of visitors, length of visit, and so on. All Google Analytics data is anonymized and used in a way so as not to identify anyone. No attempt is made, on the part of California Crossroads or Google, to find out the identities of those visiting the website. Google Analytics may capture your IP address, but no other personal information is provided or captured by Google Analytics. All data is anonymized and viewed in aggregate. Here is Google’s privacy notice. Google Analytics says they are GDPR compliant.

Anonymous data

From time to time, we may use anonymous data, which does not identify you alone, but is aggregated with all other users of the Website. This type of anonymous data may be provided to other parties for marketing, such as advertisements. Examples of this anonymous data may include statistics from Google Analytics or information collected from cookies.

Cookie Policy

The Website uses cookies to store preferences, record information on what pages users visit, and customize Website content based on visitors’ browser type or other information that the visitor sends. Cookies may also be used by third-party services, such as Google Analytics or companies with which we have an affiliate partnership, as described herein.

Users may prevent cookies by using changing the settings on their internet browser to deny the setting of cookies. Also, cookies may be deleted at any time by clearing the cookies in your web browser. However, by disabling the setting of cookies in your Internet browser, some functions of our Website may work as intended.

Newsletter Policy

California Crossroads has a newsletter, which collects personal information such as name and e-mail address, which must be provided voluntarily. Your email will never be added to a list without your consent. Should you choose to provide your email for my mailing list, please know that your email will never be sold, marketed, or traded to any other business.

Some California Crossroads communications may contain marketing, such as affiliate links, which will always be disclosed in the context of the e-mail.

You can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link or by emailing me at [email protected].

The newsletter is serviced by Benchmark – see details above about what information they collect and for a link to their privacy policy.

Rights related to your personal information

Opt-out – You may opt-out of future email communications by clicking on the unsubscribe links in our emails and confirming your intent to unsubscribe. You may also notify us at [email protected] to be removed from our mailing list.

Access – You may access the personal information we have about you by submitting a request to [email protected].

Amend – You may contact us at [email protected] to amend or update your personal information.

Forget – In certain situations, you may request that we erase or forget your personal data. To do so, please submit a request to [email protected]

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes or to complete transactions, or when required by law.

Sensitive personal information

At no time should you submit sensitive personal information to the Website.

This includes your social security number, information regarding race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health information, criminal background, or trade union memberships. If you elect to submit such information to us, it will be subject to this Privacy Policy and not shared or transmitted with anyone. Note that all comments left on this site are visible to all future visitors. You can request a comment you’ve made be removed by emailing [email protected].

Children’s information

The Website does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16.

If a parent or guardian believes that the Website has personally identifiable information of a child under the age of 16 in its database, please contact us immediately at [email protected] and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

Contact information

At any time, please contact us at [email protected] for questions related to this Privacy Policy.

Disclaimer

This is a travel blog which reflects my advice and opinions based on experiences. I am not responsible for any travel plans made by readers of the site.

Effort is made to keep content up to date; however, I cannot guarantee the accuracy or continued veracity of the information contained within. Making plans based on information on this website is strictly done at the reader’s own risk. Likewise, I am not liable for any loss or damages that may ensue as a result of reading the information contained on this website.

This blog contains affiliate links, for which I receive a small commission at no extra charge to the reader, as well as links to other websites for informative purposes. As I have no control over these websites, I am not and cannot be held responsible for the content and opinions contained within. I refer you to each blog’s privacy policy and disclaimer section for information.

California Crossroads is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Any and all posts for which I receive compensation, in any form (including discounts, freebies, or monetary compensation), will be disclosed as such. If no information is disclosed, you can infer that all purchases were made by me at the current market rate.

All opinions expressed within this blog are strictly my own, unless when a post is explicitly written by a guest blogger. My photos may not be edited, reproduced, or used on other websites without explicit written permission from me.

All comments are published at my discretion. Abusive and/or spam comments will never be published. Any comments containing advertisements will not be published. Comments with links back to user websites may or may not be published at my discretion depending on the relevance and quality of the comment.

By using this website you indicate that you understand and accept these disclaimers.

This policy was reviewed September 18, 2020 and will be reviewed quarterly or as updates to GDPR and CCPA law occur.