If you could travel back in time….

Sterlingwork

If you could travel back in time, what era would you go back to and what if anything would you do ?

taxAHcruel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058342622/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time

I do not think I would "do" anything. Many people when asked what they would change about their own life if they could go back answer "nothing" because everything in their past made them the person they are today. The good and the bad. So they would not want to change anything. I feel the same way in general. Our world today such as it is is made up of everything that came before and so I would not change a thing. Especially as even the most well intentioned change could potentially have dramatically harmful unforeseen effects.

However if the travel back in time was purely for observation with no interaction of any kind - that would be very appealing. There is so much I feel would be worth going back to see. The actual building process of the pyramids. A fly on the wall through many of the events of the alleged Jesus, if he existed at all. Many famous speeches and concerts just to be in the crowd feeling the actual feels. Watch live the missing Doctor Who episodes as they were actually broadcast :)

The list would be huge.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121916094#Comment_121916094

Another issue with the “doing” scenario is that you wouldn’t be able to communicate if you go back more than a few hundred years.

You could, of course, learn the language of the time but that could always end you up in Michael Moorcock’s ‘Behold the Man’ type situation and you’ll be the one up on the cross.

whomitconcerns

Dara o'Briain put the problem well

https://youtu.be/BVxOb8-d7Ic?si=7VyM0Pe7yy3OFMsI

bodhrandude

Would go on a music tour through the years, stop off in 1966/67 to witness Pink Floyd at the UFO in London with Syd Barrett, 1972 to see Hawkwind perform the Space Ritual with Robert Calvert, Lemmy and Simon King et all and a whole bunch of other classic groups and festivals, would definitely stop for a gawk at Woodstock 1969.

castletownman

Mine may be mundane, but I always thought it'd be cool to go back in time to my local town from say 80-100 years ago. See how much things have changed, go to the precusors of the pubs I drink in today, take a walk down the country roads to my homestead. Maybe encounter my grandparents when they were younger.

iamstop

I would have went to see James Brown when he played Oxygen cicra '98.

I would have went to see Prince when he played in Dublin circa '05.

I would have bought that Weather Report record from that house the Tuk Tuk driver brought me to in Kuala Lumpur circa '07.

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121917065#Comment_121917065

This is such an Irish answer. I'd go to the same pub I go to today :)

Btw, I know I'm slagging you a bit but to be fair it would be interesting.

As for the OP, if you put in the caveat that through some magical means you would be safe, could disguise yourself/blend in, and could communicate, then you'd get a lot more varied answers. Because otherwise my wish to see ancient Rome, or Ancient China or to see dinosaurs, would be a bit of a death wish.

Archeron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121917065#Comment_121917065

A few years ago a video appeared online of my local area in the eighties, seemingly from a camcorder from a car and they drove right through the whole area and town. I was fascinated watching 😁

Musicrules

I'd go back to Austria in the late 19th century and become a friend of Adolf Hitler. I'd be nice to him and try to get him to go with me to join some clubs and to take up some hobbies. Things like dancing and Gaelic Football. We'd go travelling around Europe but just to meet people of other cultures and religions. We'd become friends with some Jews and write a book together, called Meine Liebe.

JustAPoorDreamer

I would go back two decades almost to when I bought my house and make sure I buy the one 2 houses up not the one I bought. I would then have nicer neighbours each side of me instead of just one side and be able to do what I want to do. Instead I have a tight ass one side who does not want to spend a little to make the houses look nicer.

gym_imposter

1998, no later than July , made a different decision

Donald Trump

I'd go back to last Friday. With the winning Euromillions numbers. Get me half of that 130m yo-yos.

Would be a small step towards me bond problems at least

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058342622/if-you-could-travel-back-in-time

I’d travel back to the era of the Antebellum South. I’d fit in well as an Irish immigrant. I’d probably even write a book about it which would become the next best favourite book of American readers besides the Bible! 😁

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antebellum_South

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind_(novel)

mactheknife19

I like a lot of the music one's mentioned above ( Queen at Live Aid would be the one for me), but I wish we could go back to the birth of the mobile phone and social media and put rules around it. Age limits and proof of identity in particular. I'm so grateful that phones and social media were not part of my childhood. I feel so sorry for kids today and the issues they cause.

Hyperbollix

I'd have lots of terribly intellectual answers for this one but in all honesty I'd go back to 2008/09 and throw 1000 quid on Bitcoin.

Gregor Samsa

I’d go back to 2 minutes ago and think of a better answer to post on this thread.

PP Lee

I would go back exactly a week ago and stop myself from doing something really really dumb…oh, and I’d also bring the Euromillions numbers with me like a previous poster suggested. I could do with retiring early.

cj maxx

Go back to 1997 . And make very different decisions . Personally and professionally . Ah well 😢

standardg60

Any time new lands and inhabitants were being discovered, with Colombus, Magellan, Livingstone etc. The wild west in America. Must have been an amazing experience, the world is much smaller now.

AllForIt

I'd go back to the stone age to see if I could find anyone who identifies as non-binary.

Skyrimaddict

Take a map of all the major natural resource finds in the last 100 years, Even for things like water and what ever car batteries are made out of.

Go back, buy the land rights !

cj maxx

I’d bring a machine gun and ammo and meet Strongbow when he arrives .

Galwayguy35

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121919831#Comment_121919831

Was that the year you got married.

gym_imposter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121958986#Comment_121958986

No

Galwayguy35

The last Ice Age.

Europe was like one big safari park back then.

TokTik

Go back maybe 20 years and spend more time with and do more things with my father before he passed away in 2018.

cj maxx

Not trust what people tell you and keep MY money for myself

JupiterKid

Travel back to San Francisco 1967 for the Hippie Summer of Love. 🌞🌞🌈☮️☮️

Then to Woodstock 1969 to see if it really was all it was cracked up to be. 🎸 🎸

Maybe take in a Led Zeppelin gig circa 1973 at their prime.

No way would I travel back to an era when flush toilets weren't around!

My 40s was a pretty cool period, my older relatives were alive, and were interesting people, there are questions I’d still like to ask my mother and revelations I’d like to share with her, well that is if we could have rolled forward and get a glimpse into some of the exciting times we are living in now! I’d love to hear that generation’s take stuff that has happened.

black & white

I’d love to have seen a Roman Legion in battle such as Pharsalus or Cannae, or one of the major battles during the Napoleonic wars. From a safe vantage point obviously.