Should we drive across the state to meet old friends?

My husband and I have old friends who are visiting our state for business this week and will be staying in a town 3 1/2 hours from our house. (We live 1700 miles away from them as it stands right now.) On the free evening they have, we invited them to rent a car and visit us, spending the night at our house. The messages that have been exchanged so far have made us believe they are not going to rent a car and they want us to at least meet them halfway for dinner. In our opinion, this would put BOTH couples in a foreign place, not to mention the fact that there really is NOTHING between here and there except a few tumbleweeds and a Burger King. I want to know the proper etiquette for handling this. Here are three sub-questions:


1) Do you think it is an unreasonable request for them to rent a car to come and spend an evening with us?


(2) Should we be expected to drive all or halfway to visit them?


(3) Is there some unwritten "host state" etiquette that I should be aware of?

Should we drive across the state to meet old friends?
i believe that it is only fair and ethical to meet them halfway. you need to see that not all people have the same good financial status, or if they're even free most of the time. the other question is how good of a friend are they? it sounds that they used to be your good friends but because of time and distance, it somehow faded. would you like to rekindle your friendship? if yes, then it takes some effort for both parties- meaning meet them halfway!





i think it is fairly unreasonable for you to demand that they meet you at your home; sure that that would make things convenient for you. but what about them?





you are not expected/ or even obligated to do anything especially if you don't feel that they are that close to you as friends. remember friendship takes effort for BOTH PARTIES!





i don't think that there is some kind of ettiquette regarding this; it is just plain common sense. if you love your friend then you need to spend some time, effort and resources to maintain such friendship.