Granted that the time travel scenario as described by Azure Monk in Creating a password to convince yourself you have traveled back in time is probable, it is not the most important precaution to take, with regard to extreme situations. This is.

A very common situation is the one where you find yourself being chased by not only the bad guys, but also what should be the good guys. What do you do ? You need a safe house, a secret garden, a closet or a portable hole. You have to disappear until the dust settles

--- Example 1: (a.k.a. The Firm scenario) You have accidentally stumbled upon a big money laundry scam, and ended up with two suitcases full of $100 bills

  • The mafia wants to kill you for stealing their money
  • The crooked FBI agents want to kill you in order to cover their trails
  • The good FBI agents want to kill you since they think you killed their colleagues (which of course was done by either of the above)

--- Example 2: (a.k.a. The Pelican Brief scenario) You node a theory on the JFK assassination on E2 that happens to be correct and that gets picked up by the ones responsible (not that I suspect any of you, dear fellow noders

  • There would be a whole bunch of (now old) people from various important institutions in the society chasing you
  • You can not trust any authorities. 

-- Example 3: (a.k.a. the Total Recall scenario) You are brainwashed by evil authorities in order to hide a dark secret, but something triggers you remembering things you should not... (This is actually a scenario where a message from yourself รก la Creating a password to convince yourself you have traveled back in time would come in handy.)

  • Trust no one. 

You need a safehouse until the good guys come riding in on their white horses!

It usually takes a while for the good guys to consider that they've been chasing you for the wrong reasons. Until then you need to disappear. But, you cannot run away for good, so you have to find a place where someone can find you too! So it has to be a place where someone can get in ccontact with you, without compromising your saftey.

Things to consider when identifying your secret place:

  1. It has to be a place far away with no obvious or not so obvious connection to you whatsoever. They're not stupid! 
  2. Only one or perhaps two persons you trust to 100%, know of this place.
  3. It is not an obvious place for the person you trust to think of, should he or she be the subject to torture.
  4. You will probably be forced to send a public message to this person. Therefore, only this person should have the faintest idea as to what you are talking about, should your conversation/message be intercepted.
  5. It should be a place that your friend would have to really think hard to figure out.
  6. Remember; it has to work. Once in your safe place, you can probably not be contacted.
  7. You cannot tell you friend in advance where it is. That way she/he will know it all the time.

Bad examples of places and messages

  • "The old tree house where we used to play"  -- Yeah, how hard is it to find out where that would be...?
  • "Your first girlfriends workplace" -- Nice try, but your friend would have no way to deny knowledge of this place.
  • "July 1991" -- Same here, plus they can possibly track your credit card history to see where you were at that time.

Good examples of places and messages

  • "Break a leg" -- Pretty good...a place where someone broke a leg perhaps...can easily be denied or explained away.
  • "341" -- A room number ? A flight number ? End of a phone number ? A pub check ?
  • "924808" -- You know what this is, don't you ?

Good luck!

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