Privacy Policy
Last updated: July 15, 2026
Who we are
TravelsWithKev.com is a travel website and newsletter about Amtrak and North American passenger rail, run by Kevin “Kev” Monteith and based in the United States. This page explains what information the site collects, why it collects it, and what you can do about it. The short version: I collect as little as possible, and I don’t sell your data to anyone.
Questions about anything on this page? Email me
The newsletter
If you sign up for the newsletter, you’re giving me your email address (and your name, if you include it). That’s it — I use it to send you the newsletter and nothing else.
The list is managed through Kit.com, which stores your information on my behalf. You can read their privacy policy here. Like most email services, it may track whether emails are opened and which links are clicked, which helps me understand what readers find useful.
Every newsletter includes an unsubscribe link. Unsubscribing removes you from the list — no hoops, no “are you sure” emails. If you’d like your information deleted entirely from the mailing platform, email me, and I’ll take care of it.
Comments
When you leave a comment, the site collects what you enter in the comment form, along with your IP address and browser user agent string, which helps with spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to check whether you use it. Gravatar’s privacy policy is here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. Once your comment is approved, your profile picture (if you have one) is visible to the public alongside your comment.
Comments are checked through an automated spam detection service, Akismet.
Comments and their metadata are kept indefinitely so that follow-up comments from approved commenters can be recognized and approved automatically, rather than sitting in a moderation queue.
Contact form
If you contact me through the site’s contact form, I receive whatever you submit — typically your name, email address, and message. I use it only to respond to you. Messages are kept for up to two years, so I can refer back to past conversations, then deleted.
Analytics
The site uses Google Analytics to understand how people find and use the site — things like which pages are popular, roughly where visitors are located, and what search terms bring people here. This information is aggregated and doesn’t identify you personally. You can read the provider’s privacy policy here.
You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking with their browser add-on: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Cookies
If you leave a comment, you can opt in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies so you don’t have to re-enter them next time. These cookies last one year.
If you visit the login page, a temporary cookie checks whether your browser accepts cookies; it contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. If you log in, cookies save your login information (for 2 days or 2 weeks with “Remember Me”) and your screen display choices (for 1 year). Logging out removes the login cookies. If you edit or publish an article, a cookie records the article’s post ID and expires after 1 day. These login-related cookies only apply to site administrators and registered users — everyday readers won’t encounter them.
The analytics service described above also sets cookies to distinguish visitors.
Embedded content
Articles on this site sometimes include embedded content — YouTube videos, maps, social media posts, and the like. Embedded content behaves exactly as if you had visited the other website directly: those sites may collect data about you, use their own cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content, especially if you’re logged in to an account there.
Affiliate links and support
Some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking — at no extra cost to you. Once you click through to another site, that site’s privacy policy applies, not this one.
The site is also supported through Patreon. If you become a patron, your relationship is directly with Patreon, and their privacy policy governs the information you share there: https://www.patreon.com/policy/privacy.
Who I share your data with
Nobody, with the narrow exceptions described on this page: the email service that delivers the newsletter, the spam-detection and analytics services named above, and Gravatar for comment avatars. I don’t sell, rent, or trade your information. If you request a password reset, your IP address is included in the reset email.
Your rights over your data
If you’ve subscribed to the newsletter, left comments, or have an account on this site, you can request an exported file of the personal data I hold about you, including any data you’ve provided. You can also request that I erase any personal data I hold about you. This doesn’t include data I have to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
To make either request, email me. I’ll respond within 30 days.
For registered users (if any): the personal information in your user profile is stored on the site, and you can see, edit, or delete it at any time, except your username. Site administrators can also see and edit that information.
Where your data goes
The site and its service providers are based in the United States, so if you’re visiting from elsewhere, your data is processed in the US. Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes in a meaningful way, I’ll update the date at the top of this page. This isn’t the kind of site that needs to change its privacy practices often.