# If you could travel back in time, where would you go? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 4, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294 "2013-08-04T02:29:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/41 "2013-08-05T18:28:04Z")
I wanna see Dinosaurs!!! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/42 "2013-08-05T19:11:04Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > There’s a website called pbase which has photographers putting up pictures from their portfolio and this guy called venicepix was around during that time period where he took pictures of people who lived around then. You should check it out, might even see yourself or some one you knew in one of the albums. Even though I wasn’t around then I still feel nostalgic when flicking through the pictures. I saw the documentary and there were people that I was acquainted with in it. Part of the footage was at my Elementary School which had this big slope that was perfect for skating. I would watch them on weekends sometimes and warn them if I saw a cop coming. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/43 "2013-08-05T19:51:38Z")
Midway Island, 4–7 June 1942. I want to watch the entire battle, from both the American and the Japanese points of view. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/44 "2013-08-05T20:01:39Z")
Another thing I’d like to witness is the great floods at the end of the last Ice Age: the inundation of North America’s Great Plains, the draining of Lake Bonneville, the filling of the Black Sea. I’d also like to watch the continents break up, Madagascar separate from the Indian subcontinent, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Tikkimouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@Tikkimouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikkimouse)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/45 "2013-08-05T22:46:14Z")
I’ve always wanted to go back to introduce Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery to the joys of lightweight, waterproof shoes and clothing. ---
**Author:** ![Tikkimouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@Tikkimouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikkimouse)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/46 "2013-08-05T23:01:10Z")
Missed the edit window. I wanted to add that if really given the chance, I probably wouldn’t. It would only mean the Native Americans would get a raw deal a little sooner. But still, I always think of Lewis and Clark and their travails when I’m in the rain yet I’m warm and dry. I’ve spent too many winters in the Pacific Northwest, I think. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/47 "2013-08-05T23:50:09Z")
With or without antibiotics and a quick way back to modern medicine? Otherwise I ain’t goin’ nowhere. And can I change fixed moments in time, or will the Doctor slap my little hand? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/48 "2013-08-06T00:21:26Z")
East Africa, about 1M years ago. I want to see us before we were us, but after we were just upright chimps. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/49 "2013-08-06T00:21:36Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’d also like to watch the continents break up, Madagascar separate from the Indian subcontinent, and so on. Not a lot to see: at different times a rift valley, an inlet, a strait. Unless you photographed the separation a century at a time and then fast motioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/50 "2013-08-06T00:36:11Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Who’s Robin? The prettiest girl in the world who was visiting her sister at OSU that summer. The one that got away. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/51 "2013-08-06T00:37:21Z")
I would go back in time to the exact point in time that I went back in time, this should create an infinite loop of me going back in time and probably blow up the universe. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/52 "2013-08-06T01:17:40Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Not a lot to see: at different times a rift valley, an inlet, a strait. Unless you photographed the separation a century at a time and then fast motioned it. For sure, I’d have to fast-forward things. Still, there has to be a tripping point at which the crust finally breaks and the water comes rushing in. That’s the kind of thing I’d really like to see. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/53 "2013-08-06T05:05:13Z")
A few of mine have been mentioned - some time with dinosaurs, Egypt around the time the Great Pyramid was being finished, Stonehenge when all the stones were in place. I’d also like to check out Rome around 100 AD and Greece around 400 BCE to see the all the present day ruins in their glory. I guess I’m mostly interested in how ancient stuff looked rather than any particular events. I’d also like to see some European castles in their prime. Maybe pop in on Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/54 "2013-08-06T05:12:14Z")
Right after VJ day anywhere in the world except inside the future iron curtain: Things are modern sans computers and microelectronics More opportunities for investment and employment Global economy revving up for growth Still lots of pristine areas for hunting, camping, and the like Lax gun laws Cities less congested. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/55 "2013-08-06T14:55:58Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Who’s Robin? > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > The one that got away. [Is this her?](http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/135/3/9/stephanie_brown_robin___colors_by_marciotakara-d4zvird.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/56 "2013-08-06T21:00:50Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I would love to meet William Shakespeare and see some of his original works. I suspect that in person, he would likely have been a nice, but thoroughly boring, fellow – all the fire-and-fascination would have belonged with his dramatic output. If one likes his stuff: would have been terrific to be there at the start of things – watching the first performance of "Hamlet " or “Macbeth”, with no idea how the play would end… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/57 "2013-08-06T23:44:54Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > The prettiest girl in the world who was visiting her sister at OSU that summer. The one that got away. Ah, sorry to hear it. Le sigh. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/58 "2013-08-07T00:13:45Z")
I’d like to go back to 1900-I would advise the physicists of the day! With my (modest) command of physics, I would be considered brilliant. I’d also like to pop in around 1780-(Versailles, France)-I’d give some advice to Louis XVI! ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/59 "2017-09-07T02:14:22Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > You misspelled “_inside the capsule_” there. Just sayin’. Where would plan on being? You hopefully aren’t planning on kicking anyone out, and there wouldn’t be fuel, food, water or oxygen for you. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/60 "2017-09-07T14:53:37Z")
First I’d want to go to Calabria, Italy between the years 1908-1910 when my grandparents were born. I would love to see how they lived. Then a few years later, I’d want to be with them and experience what it was like on the ship coming to America and how they made their way to Minnesota and what it was like to live here as an immigrant. I would then like to hang around and see how they met and what their courtship was like and to witness their wedding and early days as a couple. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294.md?page=4)