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Family Travel Planning Made Easier

Disclosures

Welcome to The Family Backpack, a website about family travel (the web site and related services to be known collectively as the “Services”).  By accessing or using our Web Site at www.TheFamilyBackpack.com (the ” Web Site”), you (the “User” or “Contributor”) signify that you have read, understand, and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use (“Terms of Use” or “Agreement”).  We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete portions of these Terms of Use at any time without further notice.  If we do this, we will post the changes to these Terms of Use on this page and will indicate at the top of this page the date these terms were last revised. Your continued use of the Services or the Web Site after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms of Use.  If you do not agree to abide by these or any future Terms of Use, do not use or access (or continue to use or access) the Web Site.  It is your responsibility to regularly check the Web Site to determine if there have been changes to these Terms of Use and to review such changes.

 

 

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY AS THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, REMEDIES AND OBLIGATIONS. THESE INCLUDE VARIOUS LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS, AND A DISPUTE RESOLUTION CLAUSE THAT GOVERNS HOW DISPUTES WILL BE RESOLVED.

The Web Site and all of its services and content are owned and operated by The Family Backpack, LLC, doing business as The Family Backpack LLC.
The Web Site provides information about travel for you and your family.  You can gather information free from the Web Site, or through links to or feeds from other web sites.
Proprietary Rights in Web Site Content; User Content License
All content on the Web Site, other than User Content as defined below, including but not limited to designs, text, graphics, pictures, video, information, software, music, sound and other files, and their selection and arrangement (the “Web Site Content”), are the proprietary property of The Family Backpack with all rights reserved.  No Web Site Content may be modified, copied, distributed, framed, reproduced, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted, transmitted, or sold in any form or by any means, in whole or in part, except as provided in the Web Content Sharing Policy described below, or except as provided by The Family Backpack’s express prior written permission.  Any use of the Web Site or the Web Site Content other than as specifically authorized herein, without the prior written permission of The Family Backpack, is strictly prohibited.  Such unauthorized use may also violate applicable laws including without limitation copyright and trademark laws and applicable communications regulations and statutes.  Unless explicitly stated herein, nothing in these Web Site Terms shall be construed as conferring any license to intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication or otherwise.

“User Content” means the information you have provided to us for consideration to be posted on the Web Site.  Information may be provided in the form of comments, or, if the Web Site provides any forum, in a variety of additional related forms such as posts to such forums, user profile information, blog submissions, photographs, and video.  The Family Backpack does not claim ownership rights in any User Content.  By providing User Content to us, you grant to The Family Backpack a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, copy, distribute, and display all User Content for the purpose of making the User Content available on the Web Site.
Printed Materials
You may physically print material to share with your friends, a work or church group, etc. in limited numbers, provided that you clearly state “Courtesy of www.TheFamilyBackpack.com” at the top or bottom of EACH page (in a header or footer), and provided of course that you do not sell the material for any fee or compensation.

Except as outlined above or with express written permission, DO NOT

  1. Copy and paste content and publish it anywhere (online, in print, on social media, etc.);
  2. Slightly change the wording of articles and publish anywhere (online, in print, on social media, etc.);
  3. Use any photos or videos from the Web Site;
  4. Distribute any electronic documents or other Web Site content, whether free or paid for; or
  5. Share any restricted URLs for any free downloads.
    If you have any questions regarding copyrighted materials, or if you wish to report a violation of our copyright, please let us know via email to info@thefamilybackpack.com.

Trademarks
The Family Backpack™ and other The Family Backpack graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts and service names are trademarks or trade dress of The Family Backpack LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. The Family Backpack’s trademarks and trade dress may not be used, including as part of trademarks and/or as part of domain names, in connection with any product or service in any manner that is likely to cause confusion and may not be copied, imitated, or used, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the The Family Backpack.
User Conduct
You understand that the Services and the Web Site are available for your personal, non-commercial use only.  You represent, warrant and agree that no materials of any kind submitted or shared by you through the Service will violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary rights; or contain libelous, defamatory or otherwise unlawful material.  You further agree not to harvest or collect email addresses or other contact information of Users from the Services or the Web Site by electronic or other means for the purposes of sending unsolicited emails or other unsolicited communications.  Additionally, you agree not to use automated scripts to collect information from the Services or the Web Site or for any other purpose.  You further agree that you may not use the Services or the Web Site in any unlawful manner or in any other manner that could damage, disable, overburden or impair the Web Site. In addition, you agree not to use the Services or the Web Site to:

  • upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available any content that we deem to be harmful, threatening, unlawful, defamatory, infringing, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
  • impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent yourself or your affiliation with any person or entity;
  • upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any information that you know is false or misleading;
  • upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, solicitations, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of solicitation;
  • upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available any photographs of another person or taken by another person without that person’s consent;
  • solicit passwords or personally identifying information for commercial or unlawful purposes;
  • upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
  • intimidate or harass another User or Contributor;
  • upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available content that would constitute, encourage or provide instructions for a criminal offense, violate the rights of any party, or that would otherwise create liability or violate any local, state, national or international law;
  • upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available content that, in the sole judgment of The Family Backpack, is objectionable or which restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Web Site, or which may expose The Family Backpack or its Users to any harm or liability of any type.

The Family Backpack reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject, refuse to post or remove any posting by you, or to restrict, suspend, or terminate your access to all or any part of the Service at any time, for any or no reason, with or without prior notice, and without liability.  If you become aware of misuse of the Services by any person, please contact The Family Backpack at info@thefamilybackpack.com.

 

User Content
You are solely responsible for the information that you submit to The Family Backpack.  You understand and agree that The Family Backpack may, but is not obligated to, review any User Content submitted by you and that the decision whether or not to post User Content is determined solely by The Family Backpack.  You further understand and agree that The Family Backpack may edit, redact, or refuse to post any User Content that in the sole judgment of The Family Backpack violate this Agreement or which might be offensive, illegal, or that might violate the rights, harm, or threaten the safety of Users or others.

 

 

Copyright Complaints
If you believe that any material on the Web Site infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, you may send a written notification of such infringement to info@thefamilybackpack.com.
To meet the notice requirements under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the notification must be a written communication that includes the following:

  • A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
  • Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
  • Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
  • Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;
  • A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and
  • A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

 

Repeat Infringer Policy
In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable law, The Family Backpack has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at The Family Backpack’s sole discretion, members who are deemed to be repeat infringers.  The Family Backpack may also at its sole discretion limit access to the Web Site of any Users or Contributors who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.

 

 

Links to Other Websites and Content
The Web Site contains (or you may be sent through the Web Site or the Services) links to other web sites (“Third Party Web Sites”) as well as articles, photographs, text, graphics, pictures, designs, music, sound, video, information, software and other content belonging to or originating from third parties (“Third Party Content”).  Such Third Party Web Sites and Third Party Content are not investigated, monitored, or checked for accuracy, appropriateness, or completeness by us, and we are not responsible for any Third Party Web Sites accessed through the Web Site or any Third Party Content posted on the Web Site, including without limitation the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions, reliability or policies of or contained in the Third Party Web Sites or the Third Party Content.  Inclusion of or linking to any Third Party Web Site or any Third Party Content does not necessarily imply approval or endorsement thereof by usIf you decide to leave the Web Site and access the Third Party Web Sites, you do so at your own risk and you should be aware that our terms and policies no longer govern.  You should review the applicable terms and policies, including privacy and data gathering practices, of any site to which you navigate from the Web Site.

 

Disclaimers

The Family Backpack is not responsible or liable in any manner for any User Content or Third Party Content posted on the Web Site or in connection with the Services.
The information provided by this Web Site contains the opinions and experiences of its author, and may also include those from guest authors, who are identified as such.  This Web Site is not intended to provide international travel advisories or warnings, and it should not be relied upon for that purpose.This site, The Family Backpack (and its writers/operators) do not represent or warrant that travel to any particular destination is advisable or without risk, and is not responsible or liable for damages or losses that may result from travel.
The author may work with various affiliate programs, such as Amazon, so if you click on one of the recommended links or advertisements, the author could earn a commission, but your purchase price and experience will not be affected. In these instances, The Family Backpack cannot be held responsible for any recommendation not fulfilling your expectations.
The Web Site and the Services may be temporarily unavailable from time to time for maintenance or other reasons.  The Family Backpack assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, User communications.  The Family Backpack is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of email or players on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any web site or combination thereof, including injury or damage to Users or to any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in connection with the Web Site and/or in connection with the Services.  Under no circumstances will The Family Backpack be responsible for any loss or damage, including any loss or damage to any User Content or personal injury or death, resulting from anyone’s use of the Web Site or the Services, any User Content or Third Party Content posted on or through the Web Site or the Services or transmitted to Users, or any interactions between Users of and Contributors to the Web Site, whether online or offline.

This website is not intended to be used to provide travel advisories or risks or advice in areas that require special training such as medicine.

THE WEB SITE, THE SERVICES AND THE WEB SITE CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS-IS” AND THE FAMILY BACKPACK DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. THE FAMILY BACKPACK  CANNOT GUARANTEE AND DOES NOT PROMISE ANY SPECIFIC RESULTS FROM USE OF THE SITE AND/OR THE SERVICE. THE FAMILY BACKPACK DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT CONTENT OR MATERIALS ON THE SITE ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT OR ERROR-FREE OR THAT THE SITE OR ITS SERVERS ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. YOU SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION IN THE USE AND DOWNLOADING OF ANY SUCH CONTENT OR MATERIALS AND USE INDUSTRY-RECOGNIZED SOFTWARE TO DETECT AND DISINFECT VIRUSES.

 

 

Limitation on Liability
EXCEPT IN JURISDICTIONS WHERE SUCH PROVISIONS ARE RESTRICTED, IN NO EVENT WILL THE FAMILY BACKPACK OR ITS DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PERSON FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST DATA ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE WEB SITE OR THE SERVICE OR ANY OF THE WEB SITE CONTENT OR OTHER MATERIALS ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH THE SITE, EVEN IF THE FAMILY BACKPACK IS AWARE OR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.

 

 

Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction
By visiting or using the Web Site and/or the Service, you agree that the laws of the State of Wisconsin, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern these Terms of Use and any dispute of any sort that may arise between you and the The Family Backpack.  Any action to enforce the terms of these Terms of Use, or arising out of the subject matter of these Terms of Use, shall be commenced in the state and federal courts of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and you hereby consent to, and waive all defenses of lack of personal jurisdiction and improper or inconvenient forum with respect to, venue and jurisdiction in the state and federal courts of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.

 

 

Attorney’s Fees
In the event of any action or proceeding to enforce the terms of these Terms of Use, or arising out of the subject matter of these Terms of Use, the prevailing party shall recover its reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, including any and all expenses reasonably incurred.

 

 

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold The Family Backpack, its subsidiaries and affiliates, and each of their directors, officers, agents, contractors, partners and employees, harmless from and against any loss, liability, claim, demand, damages, costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, arising out of or in connection with any User Content, any Third Party Content you post or share on or through the Web Site, your use of the Services or the Web Site, your conduct in connection with the Services or the Web Site or with other Users of the Service or the Web Site, or any violation of this Agreement or of any law or the rights of any third party.
Other
These Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between you and The Family Backpack regarding the use of the Web Site and/or the Services, superseding any prior agreements between you and The Family Backpack relating to your use of the Web Site or the Services.  The failure of The Family Backpack to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision in that or any other instance.  This Agreement operates to the fullest extent permissible by law. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid, the remainder of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect.  If any provision of these Web Site Terms shall be deemed unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these Terms of Use and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

 

Privacy Policy

The privacy of you and every other reader of The Family Backpack is very important to us.  As such, we want to make sure you understand what information may be collected when you visit The Family Backpack, how we use it and what options you have when it comes to your information.

Simply Stated: We will at times use personally identifiable information to improve your experience on www.thefamilybackpack.com, but we never sell or rent your information to any third parties without your consent. By using the The Family Backpack, you consent to the terms laid out in both our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

How Information is Collected
Information can be collected by The Family Backpack in two ways.

You willingly provide information.

You can access The Family Backpack without revealing any personal information.  However, when you register for a The Family Backpack profile, enter a contest, submit a comment or perform a similar action on the The Family Backpack website, you willing providing us with personal information.  The information shared may include your name, email address, location, comments and photos.

If you connect your Facebook account to create a The Family Backpack profile, we are allowed to obtain information from your Facebook account.  Please note that any information we are allowed to obtain is directly dependent on your Facebook Privacy Settings.  You can update your Facebook Privacy Settings at any time.

By accessing our services and voluntarily providing us with the requested personal information, you consent to the collection and use of the information in accordance with this privacy policy.

We collect technical information as you use The Family Backpack.

We collect general, not personally identifiable, technical information when you visit www.thefamilybackpack.com from a computer, phone or other Internet connected device or app capable of accessing The Family Backpack.  The technical information collected by The Family Backpack is the same data that is collected by almost any website you access and it can be broken into three categories:

Log Data – When you access The Family Backpack, our servers automatically record information about your use of The Family Backpack that is not able to be used to personally identify you. Data collected includes basic information sent by your web browser, including: IP address, date and time of your request to access The Family Backpack, browser type and settings and the page you were viewing before visiting The Family Backpack.

Cookies – Cookies are files with a small amount of data, which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a web site and transferred to your device. Depending on how you access The Family Backpack and your browser settings, we may use cookies to record additional data to enable additional site features and present you with a better user experience. Some cookies will expire when your session is complete, while other cookies may persist until you delete them. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. If you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some features of our Service and we recommend that you leave them turned on.

Device Information – We may also collect information about the device from which you’re accessing The Family Backpack. The type of information we collect will vary from device type, but a sample of the information we may collect includes: Operating System, Operating System Version and Device Type (desktop, mobile phone, tablet, etc).

How We Use Collected Information
   

We use the collected information to improve The Family Backpack, ensure you enjoy our content and plan new site features.

Provided Personal Information allows us to better understand the The Family Backpack audience and plan editorial content to better satisfy their expectations of The Family Backpack.
Log Data allow us to analyze trends, administer the site, track users movement and gather broad demographic information for internal use.
Cookies allow us to personalize your experience on The Family Backpack.
Device Information allows us to optimize The Family Backpack content for consumption on the devices most popular with our readers.
Third Party ad servers or ad networks
We feature advertisements, promotions and offers from third party advertisers and work with third advertising services that may serve ads on The Family Backpack on our behalf. These companies may use third Party ad servers or ad networks that may also use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies collect or receive information from our website and elsewhere on the internet and use that information to provide measurement services and target ads activities on this website to measure advertisement effectiveness. The Family Backpack does not have access to or control over these cookies that may be used by third party advertisers. Third party advertisers have no access to any of your personal information shared with The Family Backpack unless you choose to share it with them directly.

Some of the advertisements that appear on The Family Backpack are delivered to you by the third party ad networks. These third parties may utilize technologies to collect anonymous information about your visit to our site, including information about the banner ads displayed, cookies placed on your computer and/or your IP address.

Your options for sharing/not sharing your information

If you do not consent to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information, as this Privacy Policy outlines, please do not provide us any personal information. Providing personal information to us means that you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

If you wish to opt out of information collection by third parties ad networks, please contact the third party directly or visit: http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

Information Sharing and Disclosure

We may share some of your personal information to third party partners if this is needed in order to provide you services or products requested by you. We share personal information only if third party’s Privacy Policies are consistent with ours or if they agree to abide by our policies with respect to personal information.

We may otherwise disclose your personal information when:
You give us your express consent for a specified purpose.
We need to respond to subpoenas, court orders or such other legal process.
We need to protect the personal safety of the users of our website or defend our rights or property.
We find that your actions on our websites violate our Terms of Use or any of our usage guidelines for specific products or services.

Links to third party Websites

The Family Backpack has links on this site for your use and reference. We are not responsible for the privacy policies on these websites. You should be aware that the privacy policies of these sites may differ from our own.

Data Security

The Family Backpack follows generally accepted industry standards to protect the personally identifiable information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. We use industry standard efforts to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal identifiable information, such as firewalls and Secure Socket Layers (SSL) where appropriate. We also protect the personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure.

Editorial Policy

All Photography on this blog is always credited to the best of my knowledge and is used under the Fair Use Doctrine of U.S. Copyright Law. If you own the rights to an image and would like it removed from the blog or would like to request a change to a credit, please contact us at info@thefamilybackpack.com privately. The Family Backpack reserves the right to request proof of copyright ownership in either case to ensure changes are accurate.

Comment Policy

Your thoughts, opinions, and suggestions are always welcome and appreciated. Please be respectful of every couple and company that is featured on The Family Backpack; any comment that I consider inappropriate, offensive, disrespectful, or spam will be rejected or deleted. If you have a complaint with a company that is featured, please remember that it is a private matter and The Family Backpack is not a venue to air your grievances. Any comments that are clearly designed only to promote a company or website will be marked as spam. Comments are the property of their authors and are not necessarily representative of the views of The Family Backpack or its sponsors.

Children’s Privacy

Only persons age 18 or older have permission to access our Website. Our Website does not address anyone under the age of 13 (“Children”).

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and you learn that your Children have provided us with Personal Information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Information from a children under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

California rights
Under California law, California residents who have an established business relationship with The Family Backpack may make a written request to The Family Backpack about how we have shared their personal information with third parties for direct marketing purposes during the prior calendar year. In response to a written request, The Family Backpack is allowed to provide a cost-free means to opt-out of such sharing. If you do not want The Family Backpack to disclose information to other companies for their marketing purposes, please follow the opt-out procedures set forth herein.
You may also send an email to info@thefamilybackpack.com instructing us to no longer share your personal information with third parties who will use it for direct marketing purposes.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may at any time, without notice to you, amend this policy. If privacy is a concern of yours, we suggest that you review this policy periodically. Your continued use of www.thefamilybackpack.com after any such amendments signifies your acceptance of our current privacy policy.

Questions or Suggestions
If you have questions or suggestions about this privacy policy, or your own personal information, please contact us at info@thefamilybackpack.com.
Last Updated March 13, 2017.

I HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT AND AGREE TO ALL OF THE PROVISIONS CONTAINED ABOVE.

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