Who we are
Aloft and Away is the travel blog and video channel of Cherryl Cabalit and Ben Clissen, based in the United Kingdom, who are responsible for the information described in this policy.
Our website address is https://aloftandaway.com. If you have a question about this policy or your information, write to contact@aloftandaway.com.
What we collect when you browse
The public website has no visitor accounts, comments or newsletter. It uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to measure aggregate visits. It sets no cookies while you read it and runs no advertising trackers. Our apps don't include an analytics SDK.
Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, handles every request to the site. Like any web server, it processes your IP address and basic details of your browser to deliver the page and to protect the site from abuse. We do not use this information to identify you.
When you contact us
If you use our contact form, we receive your name, email address, phone number if you give one, and your message. We use them only to reply to you. The form is sent to us by email through Cloudflare and kept in our mailbox, which Apple's iCloud hosts. We do not add you to any list. We keep your message only as long as we need it to deal with your enquiry, and delete it after that.
To keep out spam, the form uses Cloudflare Turnstile, which checks that a person is sending it. Turnstile processes technical details of your browser to do this and does not use cookies for advertising. Cloudflare's privacy policy explains how it handles this information. The form for suggesting a video on a destination page uses Turnstile in the same way, and sends us only the video link.
Videos, maps and other embedded content
Some pages show content from other companies:
- Video thumbnails come from YouTube. On a vlog page, YouTube's privacy-enhanced player (youtube-nocookie.com) loads with the page and may start playing by itself.
- Maps come from Google Maps.
When one of these loads, your browser connects to that company, which receives your IP address and may set its own cookies or record how you interact with the content, as it would on its own site. Their privacy policies apply: Google's covers both YouTube and Google Maps.
Links to our social media profiles and to other sites take you to those sites, where their own policies apply.
Who we share your information with
We do not sell your information. Service providers process information as described in this policy.
Aloft & Away app
The Aloft & Away app for iPhone and iPad lets anyone browse our destinations, places, stays and vlogs without an account. Members of our editorial team, and people we invite, can also sign in to add and edit content. The app offers no public registration.
Browsing
Browsing needs no account. The app reads published content from our website. Cloudflare handles these requests as it does for the website, processing your IP address and basic details of your device to deliver content and protect the service. The app has no analytics or advertising SDK and does not track you across other companies' apps or websites.
When you open a vlog, the app loads YouTube's embedded player in its privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), which connects to YouTube. The app doesn't keep YouTube's cookies once you leave the vlog. Google's privacy policy covers what YouTube receives. Maps in the app use Apple Maps.
Signing in
Cloudflare Access handles sign-in, with a Cloudflare account we have approved. Cloudflare also processes network information, including your IP address, to deliver and protect the service. We use your account name, email address, user ID and editorial role to identify you and enforce your permissions. The app keeps its sign-in in your device's Keychain. Signing out removes it from the app; it doesn't sign you out of an existing browser session.
Drafts and photos
When you save a draft, we receive the text, locations, dates, photos and other fields you include. Saving in the app never publishes anything; publishing happens on the website. When you upload a photo, we receive the image and a file name the app suggests using Apple's Vision framework on your device. The app resizes and re-encodes photos as JPEGs without copying the original file's metadata.
Cloudflare hosts our editorial database and photo storage, and people with the appropriate website roles can see this content. Uploaded image files can be opened by anyone with their web address, including before a draft is published. Only upload photos you have permission to share. Removing a photo from an entry doesn't delete it from our media library.
Automatic image descriptions
The website sends uploaded photographs and their file names to Anthropic's API to write image descriptions for accessibility. This can happen after the upload completes. The app asks for your agreement the first time you upload on a device and remembers it for your account on that device. Saving a draft without photos doesn't need this agreement. Anthropic's data-handling and retention information is at https://privacy.claude.com/en/articles/7996866-how-long-do-you-store-my-organization-s-data. Its standard API retention is up to 30 days, with exceptions described in that policy. We do not promise immediate removal of information already processed by a service provider.
Location, Record a tour, Rebuild from photos and Apple Watch
Browsing and saving drafts on iPhone don't use your device's location. Finding a location for an entry uses Apple's MapKit, which may process your search.
Record a tour is one of the editorial tools. It records the route of a tour you take, so we can make animated maps for our videos. It asks for access to your location only while you use the app. From when you tap Start recording until you tap Stop recording, it records your position, including while the screen is locked or you use other apps, and your device shows its location indicator for as long as it records. It doesn't use your location at any other time.
The route is stored only on your device and isn't sent to us or anyone else. If you export a tour as a GPX file, the route goes wherever you choose to send it. Deleting a tour, or the app, removes the route from your device.
If a tour wasn't recorded, Rebuild from photos can draw its route from your photos and videos instead. It asks for access to your photo library. It reads when and where the photos and videos taken in the period you choose were taken, on your device, and doesn't upload them or anything else from your library. The rebuilt route is kept on your device like a recorded tour.
Apple Watch
The app includes an Apple Watch app for our editorial team, which installs with the iPhone app. If you aren't signed in to contribute on your iPhone, it only shows our logo and doesn't use your location.
Add a place uses your watch's location while you use it, to find places near you through Apple Maps, which may process your location to answer the search. When you choose a place, the watch sends its name, address and location, as Apple Maps gives them, to your iPhone, which saves it as a draft on our website like any other draft. If your iPhone isn't in reach, the watch keeps the place until it is. So you can choose a destination, your iPhone sends the watch the list of destinations, including drafts, and the watch keeps the latest copy.
Record a tour on the watch works as it does on the iPhone. From Start recording until Stop recording it records your position, including when you lower your wrist. Then it sends the route to your iPhone, where it's kept like any other tour, and deletes its own copy. The route isn't sent to us.
Contributor app
Contributor is our app for the Aloft & Away editorial team. A website account supplied by our team is required to read or update live content. The app does not offer public registration.
Account and sign-in information
We use your account name, email address, user ID and editorial role to identify you and enforce your permissions. Cloudflare Access handles sign-in, with a Cloudflare account we have approved. Cloudflare also processes network information, including your IP address, to deliver and protect the service.
The app stores its sign-in credential in your device's Keychain. It caches permitted content and successful photo-upload receipts on the device so it can display previous reads and avoid repeating uploads. Signing out removes the app's stored credentials and account cache. Signing out of the app does not sign you out of an existing browser session.
Drafts and photos
When you save a draft, we receive the text, locations, dates and other fields you choose to include. When you upload a photo, we receive the selected image and its generated filename. The app uses Apple's Vision framework on your device to suggest filename keywords. It resizes and re-encodes uploaded photos as JPEGs without copying the original file's metadata.
Cloudflare hosts our editorial database and photo storage. People with the appropriate website roles can access this content. Saving in Contributor does not publish a story. However, uploaded image files are accessible to anyone who has their website URL, including before a draft is published. Only upload photos you have permission to share. Removing an image from a draft or cancelling an edit does not delete an image that has already been uploaded.
Automatic image descriptions
The website sends uploaded photographs and their filenames to Anthropic's API to generate image descriptions for accessibility. This processing can happen after the upload completes. The app asks for your agreement before sending a live upload. You can cancel and keep using the app without uploading those photos. Text-only draft saves do not require this photo-upload agreement.
Anthropic's API data-handling and retention information is available at https://privacy.claude.com/en/articles/7996866-how-long-do-you-store-my-organization-s-data. Its standard API retention is up to 30 days, with exceptions described in that policy. We do not promise immediate removal of information already processed by a service provider.
Location and Apple services
In the Contributor app, with your device permission, the app requests your location to suggest a nearby destination. It does not continuously track your movements or use background location. Matching nearby saved destinations happens on the device. Apple's MapKit services may process a location or search query to find a place or address. You can choose a destination manually without granting location access. If you save a location in a draft, that location becomes part of the website content.
Demo mode
Explore the Demo uses sample content held in memory. Its content requests, edits and photo uploads do not go to the production website. Sample changes last until you exit the demo. Selected demo upload files are stored temporarily on the device. Optional Apple mapping and location features, and opening an external link, may still contact those services.
Tracking and advertising
Our apps have no advertising or analytics SDK and do not track you across other companies' apps or websites. We use contributor data to provide the editorial service, not for advertising.
Retention and requests
Website account information, drafts and uploads remain in the editorial service until managed by the team. Our database and media backups can retain copies after removal from the live website; there is currently no automatic backup expiry. Signing out or deleting the app removes neither website content nor our backups. Contact contact@aloftandaway.com to request access, correction or deletion of your personal information, or to discuss account closure and retention. We will explain any information that must remain for legal or operational reasons.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, and object to how we use it. Write to contact@aloftandaway.com. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Changes to this policy
We will update this page if the way we handle information changes.
Last updated: 26 October 2026.