Privacy & data

There are no user accounts, logins, or passwords on DETOUR. We don't build a profile of you, and we don't use advertising cookies. The only personal data we store is an email address, and only if you choose to give us one (see below). Like any website, the providers that deliver and measure DETOUR receive your IP address as part of serving a page — we don't keep it in our own database or use it to identify you.

If you enter your email to subscribe, we add it to our mailing list so we can send you trip ideas. That's the only thing we use it for. We use Resend (opens in a new tab) to store the list and send the emails, with a backup copy in our database.

Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing removes you from the list. You can also email us to be deleted entirely (see Contact). We don't share or sell your address. We keep it until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it — there's no other schedule. You gave it to us because you wanted the newsletter, and you can take that back at any time without giving a reason.

We use PostHog (opens in a new tab) (hosted in the EU) to understand which ideas people enjoy: how many pages are viewed, and which links get clicked. It is configured to be cookieless: no cookies and no analytics data are stored on your device, nothing follows you across sites or across visits, and we don't record your screen. Because nothing is stored on your device for analytics, there's no cookie banner to click through.

We do this — and run the anti-spam check on our forms — on a legitimate interest in knowing whether the site works and in keeping it from being abused. Neither one identifies you, and neither builds a profile.

If you take the travel-type quiz, your result and your answers are stored only in your browser's local storage, on this device. The same goes for anything you save to your bucket list. They are never sent to us, never tied to your name, and you can clear them any time by clearing your browser data. Sharing your result just puts a short code in the link, nothing personal.

Two smaller things are kept only for the current tab and disappear when you close it: the currency you pick, and which ideas you've already seen in Discover, so it doesn't show you the same one twice.

Some outbound links to booking and activity partners are affiliate links. If you book something after clicking one, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes the price you pay, and it never influences which destinations we feature. Once you click through, you're on the partner's site under their privacy policy.

DETOUR is a daydreaming and inspiration site, not a travel agency or an official source. Details like safety notes, costs, weather, and entry or visa requirements can change and may not be exact. Always confirm with official government and provider sources before you book or travel. We don't accept liability for decisions made based on the ideas here.

We rely on a few trusted providers to operate DETOUR, each acting as a data processor under their own privacy terms: Vercel (hosting), Supabase (database), Cloudflare (domain, DNS & the anti-spam check on our forms), Resend (email), PostHog (analytics), and Unsplash (opens in a new tab) (photography). Our photographs are loaded directly from Unsplash, which means your browser contacts them on every page and they receive your IP address and browser type, just as our host does. Standard server logs are processed to deliver and secure the site.

Some of these providers are based in, or store data in, the United States. Where that happens, the transfer relies on the safeguards in that provider's own data-processing terms. Our analytics are hosted in the EU.

You can unsubscribe from emails at any time, and you can ask us to access, correct, export or delete the email address we hold for you. Since we don't run accounts or ad profiles, there's very little else to request, but if you have a question about your data, just reach out.

If you're in the UK or the EU and you think we've handled your data badly, you also have the right to complain to your national data protection authority. We'd rather you told us first so we can fix it.

DETOUR is not directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data.

If we change what we collect or how we use it, we'll update this page and the date above. Material changes to the newsletter will be noted in an email.

Questions, or want your data removed? Email [email protected].