Privacy Notice

Last updated 2 October 2026

The short version

We use personal information to deliver guide access, answer support requests, keep necessary business records and protect the service. BudgetWalk does not sell or rent personal information or use it for targeted advertising. We do not install advertising or audience-analytics tools on the BudgetWalk guide site. Third-party services, including checkout, have their own practices as described below.

Who is responsible

Stackpole Holdings, trading as BudgetWalk, is responsible for the personal information we use to operate the guides and provide support. Contact us at hello@budgetwalk.com. Business contact address: 435 Park St, Charlottesville, VA 22902-4766, USA.

Gumroad is the merchant of record for purchases. It handles payment and related transaction information under its own Privacy Policy. This notice covers BudgetWalk’s handling of information, including information we receive from Gumroad.

What we collect and why

• Purchases: Gumroad collects checkout information, including contact, billing, payment and tax-location details. We receive purchase information needed to provide access and support, including your email address, order information and licence key. We do not receive your full payment-card number.
• Guide access: we check your licence against Gumroad’s records to authorize access and enforce the three-activation limit. Your browser stores an access token and device or browser identifier to remember access. When you unlock guides, your licence key is sent to our guide server and passed to Gumroad for checking; Gumroad records each activation and returns an activation identifier. We do not keep a database of keys, activations or devices: the signed access token and the activation identifier are stored only in your own browser, and our server reads them to authorize each request without retaining them. We use access information to deliver the guides, resolve activation problems and investigate misuse.
• Support: we use your email address, messages and any attachments you send to answer questions, verify purchases and keep a support record. Please avoid sending sensitive information we do not need.
• Technical and security information: our hosting providers, GitHub Pages and Cloudflare, process request information such as IP addresses, requested pages, timestamps and browser information to serve content, troubleshoot faults and protect their services. Information available to us depends on the hosting configuration. We do not use these records for advertising profiles.

Purchase and licence information comes from you and Gumroad. Technical information is generated when your browser connects to the service. If you share a key privately, a companion’s browser may generate access and technical information too; please let them know about this notice.

Our legal bases

Where EU or UK data-protection law applies, we rely on:

• Contract: processing necessary to deliver and support the guide licence requested by you.
• Legitimate interests: administering purchases and support, securing the service, preventing fraud and licence abuse, and retaining proportionate records to resolve disputes, where these interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal obligation: processing required by laws applicable to us, where those laws qualify for this basis. Otherwise, necessary records for applicable accounting and legal requirements are kept on the relevant legitimate-interests basis.
• Consent: optional marketing where you have agreed to receive it. You may withdraw that consent at any time without affecting earlier lawful processing.

BudgetWalk is based in Virginia, USA. We need purchase and authentication information to provide paid access. Support information is needed to handle your request. Optional marketing is not a condition of purchase. We do not use personal information to make solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects.

Browser storage

Access tokens and identifiers are used for authentication and the activation limit, rather than advertising. The access token expires one year after it is issued. The activation identifier has no expiry and remains until browser storage is cleared. Both are stored by your browser rather than as cookies, and neither is sent to any third party other than Gumroad's licence check. You can remove them using your browser’s settings, but this may sign you out or require another activation.

Where local law requires consent for storage or access that is not essential to the service you request, that consent must be obtained before the technology is used. Essential authentication may qualify for an exception. The checkout provider’s storage practices are explained in its own notice.

Who receives information

Information is received by the providers needed to run the service: Gumroad for purchases and licence checks; GitHub Pages and Cloudflare for hosting and security; and Zoho Mail for support correspondence. We may also share necessary information with professional advisers or authorities to meet legal duties, defend legal claims or investigate fraud. We limit disclosures to what is appropriate for those purposes.

Gumroad determines how it handles its payment, tax and fraud records. Other providers’ roles depend on the service and our arrangements with them. Their notices describe their own processing: Gumroad, GitHub and Cloudflare.

Maps, narration and fonts

Directions open Google Maps when you follow a map link. Google then handles information under its Privacy Policy; your map use and location settings are controlled by you and Google. BudgetWalk does not receive your live location from opening a map link.

Narration uses your device or browser’s speech service. Depending on the voice and settings, that service may process text remotely under its own privacy practices; we do not promise that every voice operates entirely on your device. These policy pages use system fonts and do not request fonts from Google. The main BudgetWalk page and the guides themselves load the Space Grotesk typeface from Google Fonts, so your browser contacts Google when you open them; Google handles that request under its Privacy Policy.

International processing

Your information may be processed in countries outside the country where you live, including the United States, because of our location and our providers’ operations. Where information is transferred out of the UK or EEA, we and our providers rely on the safeguards permitted by applicable data-protection law. Contact us for information about the safeguards that apply to your information, or for a copy where one is available.

How long we keep information

• Access records: while needed to provide a valid licence and manage activations, followed by any limited retention necessary to resolve disputes or prevent documented abuse.
• Transaction records: while needed to establish a valid licence, for the period required by accounting or tax laws applicable to Stackpole Holdings, and where necessary to resolve an active dispute or comply with a legal hold. Gumroad retains its own transaction records separately under its privacy policy.
• Support correspondence: normally up to three years after the request is closed. We may keep relevant correspondence longer where necessary for an ongoing dispute or legal requirement.
• Technical and security logs: we do not operate our own servers and do not collect or store request logs ourselves. GitHub and Cloudflare retain their own operational logs under their respective privacy policies and retention practices, which we do not control.

We delete or anonymize information when it is no longer needed. Providers may retain records separately under their own notices. Removing active records may not immediately remove copies in routine backups; those copies remain subject to the applicable retention and deletion arrangements.

Your rights and choices

Depending on applicable law and the reason we use your information, you may have rights to access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability or objection. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests, including for reasons relating to your particular situation. Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw it. We do not send optional marketing unless you have agreed; withdrawal does not prevent necessary purchase or service messages.

Email us to exercise your rights. We may request proportionate information to verify your identity. We respond within the applicable legal deadline, normally one calendar month for EU/UK requests, and explain any lawful extension or refusal. We do not charge unless applicable law permits it.

A deletion request does not automatically cancel paid access. We will explain if deleting information essential to authentication would prevent us from continuing access and consider whether unnecessary information can be removed instead. We may retain records required by law or necessary for legal claims. For records Gumroad controls independently, contact it under its privacy notice; we can help direct your request.

You may complain directly to the relevant data-protection authority without first contacting us. UK users can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office. EU users can contact an authority in the member state where they live or work, or where the alleged infringement occurred.

Children

BudgetWalk is intended for adults arranging their own travel and is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly seek personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us so we can review and take appropriate action. Adults should supervise children using guides with them.

Security and changes

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures appropriate to the information we handle. No online service is completely secure; keep your licence key private except for permitted companion sharing.

We may update this notice to reflect changes in the service or legal requirements. The date above identifies the current version. We will provide additional notice, and obtain consent where required, before making changes that require those steps.