*Meet-In-The-Middle "Prisoner Exchange" Techniques*
By: Boceph00
29 November 2022

A Rubie was recently in Europe and scheduled a visit with a Rubie who lives there. They arranged a meet-in-the-middle transfer of the visitor to a family member living some distance away. This is the description of safely shuttling people across country.

The "Prisoner Exchange" isn't something I came up with...

I have done this in the past for work (needing to transfer data tapes/drives/data that must be in a secure facility or in the possession of an officer of the company at all times).

When it was for work it was mostly just an expedient to not have someone need to overnight in addition to paying mileage. When it was private it was that and because I positively hate driving.

Primary requirements are:

• Access from both directions of the local highway (autobahn). This can be a rest stop or an exit with a close by location as long as you can get on and off in either direction 'easily'.
• A parking area with toilets. You might be waiting a little, and since both directions need to stop you may as well just plan for a pit stop.
• Well lighted public areas. Some times this is my wife and her sister doing a swap of children or some such, no need to take unnecessary chances in a dark out of the way place.

Secondary requirements (nice to haves or situational):

• Food
• Fuel
• Playground (if kids are at all involved you want to give them a moment to burn off some energy)
• Area to walk dog(s)
• Cover or shade to park under for rain, snow, and sun this might just be comfort or if there are a bunch of bags involved, you don't want to mess with that in the rain (there is almost always a need to try several different ways to get all the bags, boxes, baskets, potted plants, coolers and extra shoes/jackets and walking sticks stowed away).

We have already identified a few "strategic" rest stops that meet at least the main requirements for the people we have occasion to need this activity. The rest is just getting people to agree to how far they will go to meet up and figuring out a spot in that area.

It also meant that everyone gets to stay well inside their comfort zone because you just get off the highway and get back on. Other than that your either driving in your area of familiarity or on highways which are pretty easy to navigate.

In the case of [redacted] this was simple because its a common route for us to do family exchange. So we know how long and where to avoid for traffic or construction. It also lowers stress a great deal when the driver knows where they are going.

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