# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/61 "2017-09-07T16:30:26Z")
I’d like to take steps back in time to just where I live. It would be interesting to see the landscape/foliage animal life 100,500,1000,10000…1000000 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/62 "2017-09-07T17:35:53Z")
I agree with terentii about seeing the great floods such as the end of Lakes Agassiz, Bonneville, Missoula, &c, and the filling of the Black Sea. The refilling of the Mediterranean basin, too, at the end of the Miocene. Cahokia, Chaco Canyon, Tikal, Teotihuacan… The early 15th century, to see one of Zheng He’s fleets under way. Beringia, around 1-15 thousand years ago. > [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > My first thought was Giza, halfway through the construction of the great pyramid. Bring a sketch artist who could speak Greek to draw the progress Not sure what the point of having a Greek-speaker in 4th millenium BC Egypt would be. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/63 "2017-09-07T17:45:34Z")
Because that’s when the Macedonians conquered Egypt. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/64 "2017-09-08T13:54:01Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > 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. You have a time machine. Bring the food, water and oxygen with you. If it runs out, bring in some more from the future, or past, maybe even the present. For that matter if the lunar module breaks or fails in any way, _you have a time machine_. Which is like a spaceship, only better. Unless you _don’t_ have a time machine, and it’s a one way teleportation and you click your heels together to go home, then yeah, don’t screw up the Apollo mission, please. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/65 "2017-09-08T18:52:49Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Assuming the time travel also takes care of the language barrier (a key ‘if’), I’d want to go back to Galilee in ~26 A.D. so I could be in the crowd when Jesus preached. And ultimately follow him to Jerusalem. I wouldn’t want to miss a minute of his life… ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/66 "2017-09-08T19:34:44Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > My parents’ house, 1973. I’d tell myself to get off my ass, get into town and get a part-time job so I could earn some money, develop some self-respect and people skills, and study something in college that would bring in a paycheck, rather than studying music. Oh, and, once I’d gotten some money, ask Laurie out on a date. Similar to me. Go back and correct some early mistakes in jr high. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/67 "2017-09-08T21:47:10Z")
The _other_ Big Bang: The conception of Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/68 "2017-09-08T21:58:44Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > I wouldn’t want to miss a minute of his life… Even the minutes when he is pooping? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/69 "2017-09-08T23:59:42Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Even the minutes when he is pooping? Holy shit! ---
**Author:** ![linjiawen0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@linjiawen0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/linjiawen0910)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/70 "2017-09-09T00:56:08Z")
Do not be afraid of anything, follow your heart Just do it ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/71 "2017-09-09T01:17:37Z")
I can come back with stuff, right? I’d go to the site of Sutter’s Mill in California, about 1800, and hope the natives don’t see me filling my pockets with gold. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/72 "2017-09-09T14:33:50Z")
Definitely something American Revolution-related. I’d love to be in the room where it happened. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Last\_Glacial\_Maximum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Last\_Glacial\_Maximum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Last_Glacial_Maximum)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/73 "2017-09-09T23:01:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > East Africa, about 1M years ago. I want to see us before we were us, but after we were just upright chimps. For me, I would like to travel to and all around Europe a few thousand{s} of years after the Last Glacial Maximum…:). We were AMH, but still very much different than we are today. I would need to be invisible and have all sorts of invisible devices with me. . ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/74 "2017-09-10T01:30:08Z")
Posts like this start to creep up to the “Being a Jerk” line, when users are trying to have a discussion. Your “one liner” schtick is really getting old. You might want to start putting that into check. > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Even the minutes when he is pooping? ---
**Author:** ![Architect2017](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Architect2017](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Architect2017)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/75 "2017-09-10T06:37:38Z")
Oh man I’ve thought about this often. Well first off I would go back to the 1990s to make sure that bad events that happened to myself and my family wouldn’t happen to stop the ripple effects from happening that we are still feeling to this day. Next I would head back to 1861 to convince Lincoln to let the Southern States leave the Union and to recognize the Confederacy as a separate independent nation ( which it was ) which would mean the horrific event of the Civil War would be avoided. ---
**Author:** ![Architect2017](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Architect2017](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Architect2017)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/76 "2017-09-10T06:43:30Z")
Oh I almost forgot before I go back to 1861 I would first and foremost get to 1913 at Jekyll Island and stop the Federal Reserve from being created right there and then. After I’ve eliminated every single problem that contributed to the Federal Reserve coming to be then I would head to 1861. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/77 "2017-09-10T08:28:49Z")
Ten minutes before I lost my virginity. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/78 "2017-09-10T11:24:04Z")
> [@Architect2017](#): > > Next I would head back to 1861 to convince Lincoln to let the Southern States leave the Union and to recognize the Confederacy as a separate independent nation ( which it was ) which would mean the horrific event of the Civil War would be avoided. You would convince Lincoln? Good luck with that! 🙂 But even if you do, what other horrific events might happen instead? Even the indefinite continuance of slavery would be horrific. Perhaps the civil war would only be postponed, and would be far worse when it happened? Perhaps the southern states would conquer Mexico and set up a huge slave empire, expanding into South America? Perhaps the southern states would make an alliance with Germany in WW1 and Germany would win the war and establish a European empire? Any number of unpredictable (and maybe worse) things might happen instead. ---
**Author:** ![Architect2017](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Architect2017](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Architect2017)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294/79 "2017-09-10T17:29:44Z")
Well I suspect Lincoln wouldn’t listen to reason so I might have to resort to more drastic measures should he not be willing to listen. Slavery was on it’s way out. Slavery didn’t even end in the Union after the war did. It took some time for it to fully end. Besides Lincoln didn’t fight the war over slavery it was to keep the Union together in his mind. If anything had the Confederacy won out and remained it’s own independent nation I just can’t see them or the Union becoming a world power. Maybe a regional power at best but not a world power something I don’t see as a bad thing at all. Hopefully neither side would have seen getting involved in World War 1 as something that was worth it and would both have stayed out of it and rightfully so. Not for nothing it would have been better if Germany had won World War 1 because that would have removed Hitler rising up and the Second World War from happening. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time-where-would-you-go/665294.md?page=3)