You have the ability to travel through time. What do you do?

I would go back to 1982, and get that extra hug from my Grandmother.

I'd fix the things I effed up. There were a few of those. I'd revisit the many wonderful days I've lived, all my lost family and friends, all my lost beloved pets.

I’d settle for getting lotto numbers. As for going to the past, I’d go back just so I can punch out Nathaniel Hawthorne, say, “That was for The Scarlet Letter, you asshole!” then leap into the time portal while he’s standing around going, “WTF?!” I’m not going to screw around too much with time travel, though; to quote Cyborg from Teen Titans, “You mess around too much with the past and monkeys rule the future.”

Hmmm-I was thinking of this as spectator sport. did not realize that we could react physically with the bodies of the past. If there are no Bradbury-Butterfly repercussions I'd wrestle that nasty green knuckle slapping ruler from Sister Dalmatia and chase her around the room with it, while six year old shakey watches. --s6 PS--and as long as dead authors are game, I'd kick Virginia Woolf's ass for writing To the Lighthouse.

Go to my birthday,
buy a whole bunch of stock in my name that is worth a whole lot of money now,
come back and sell it.

I would continually go back in time to undo mistakes I made that changed my life. I would go to each date my life went to hell and undo something I did. Then my life will be different.

I would go back to witness historical events. MLK's I Have A Dream speech. Cornwallis surrendering to Washington. Berlin Wall falling. Transmission of first telegraph message ("What hath God wrought?"). Coronation of Elizabeth I and Victoria. Hang out with Jonas Saulk, visit Neils Bohr's lab, watch Rutherford conduct his gold foil experiment for the first time.

I would be tempted to collect evidence to debunk conspiracy theories or report on tragedies, but would I really want to be there for JFK's assassination or D-Day? The scholar in me says yes, but the enhanced close up of the Zapruder film and the first 20 min of Saving Private Ryan give me pause about how actually seeing something like that would affect me. I'll stick with happy stuff.

Go back to the 80s and quietly stay there, safe in the knowledge that the world would have a good 50 years of not destroying itself, despite our fears at the time. Plus, I still like the music.

Stop the asteroid from hitting Earth (how, I dunno. Let's assume that time travel + change in reference frame with galactic motion allows you to accelerate a bowling ball to relativistic velocities and blow it out of the sky). Because dinosaurs are cool and paradoxes are fun.

That'd be one hell of a strike, BTW.

Through manipulation of events, and explore different timelines where non-European cultures achieve the hegemony that the West did/has. Example, how would the Aztecs and other groups native to the Americas progress and clash and form new states, etc. if European conquest and genocide never happened?

Also, travel back in time to eat different animals that have long been extinct.

I would go back to Ireland in the 1800's and get to know my maternal grandmother's side of the family. I've been trying for years to trace my Irish roots with not much luck recently.

Don't you have to say, 'kill Hitler'?

Find a time and place I really like and stay there. Quite possibly mid-Fifties California before all the surf breaks got crowded.

J.T. Marsh said:

Don't you have to say, 'kill Hitler'?

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No. Please read IATT Bulletin 1147 regarding the killing of Hitler before your next excursion.

I would stand around frozen with indecision and anxiety over the enormity of the possibilities, get overwhelmed by the stress, and eat an entire pizza and watch MST3K until I fell asleep, vowing to get back to the problem of what to do the next day.

...and repeat.

SteinbeckisGod said:

Here's what I'd do: I'd go to Lascaux France circa 17,000 years ago, find a cave, and paint a life-size, photorealistic painting of Richard Nixon riding a horse...naked.

That'd blow a few fuses.

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This is the funniest thing I've read in a good while.

There'd be so many mysteries I'd be trying to solve, it's ridiculous. Though the Roman Republic would be an awesome travel destination...

Go to the future and probably stay there if I can.

Otherwise for the past, checking that Jesus Christ fellow out and what all that business was about might be worth a look in. Go see The Beatles perform in the Cavern Club, chat with Julius Caesar, witness how the pyramids were used originally, check out if there is anything to the ancient aliens theory (annunaki), attend some original masonic meetings (as a modern day mason, that's interesting), meet Tolkien.

I'd do several things at several different times that would alter my life as it is now, probably for the better, all the while making sure through time I end up with the same family I currently have .

But more so I'd go back in time and meet my Great Grandfather who died before I was born. I have been told that he was a great man with a lot of wisdom to share. It'd be awesome to be able to sit down with him for a real conversation.

Back back back to 1832-34 to get the real feel of the locations in my book.

I'd go to all the ancient libraries and read texts that are now lost or destroyed.

All of them!