Time Travel

While trying to come up with some new summer vacation destination—somewhere other than Tahoe, San Diego or Wally World—it made me wish I had a time machine. Think of the amazing possibilities.

Time travel has always been a popular concept. Originally popularized by H. G. Wells’ 1895 novel The Time Machine, the concept of time travel was moved into the public imagination. Imagine, if you will, that you had the ability to travel backward or forward in time to a specific date or period. Think how incredible it would be to teleported from the summer of 2018 to a day/month/year in the past or future, to relive a magical moment, to play a part in history, or to see if flying cars actually materialized, ie; the Hanna-Barbara animated sitcom, The Jetsons.

What if you could make time travel a summer vacation destination? Pretty cool, right? I wish I could take credit for it, but it was an article idea shared with me by a friend. I wish I could travel back in time and come up with that idea on my own, but I don’t think I would use a trip in my super cool time machine just to lay claim to an ALIVE article. What a waste. No, when I time travel it’s going to be an epic ride with a real purpose in mind.

The major television networks love their weekly series about time travel, and why not? The concept of time travel lends itself to so many great storylines. Two of the more popular time travel TV programming shows over the last 20 years are Timeless – a series about an unlikely trio who travel through time in order to battle unknown criminals in order to protect history as we know it. Timeless is currently running on NBC, Monday nights at 10:00 PM PST. The other hugely popular show was Quantum Leap (which ran on NBC from 1989 to 1993), chronicling Dr. Sam Beckett’s adventures temporarily taking the place of people to correct historical mistakes showed how time travel could alter or disrupt historical events. However, there are a lot more shows that most viewers might have missed including; Travelers, Making History, Time Trax, Outlander, Flash Forward, Journeyman and The Time Tunnel, to name just a few. I’m not sure if all these series were on NBC, but the brain trust at the Peacock Network seems to have found a popular concept that clicks with the American public. 

There have also been countless books written about time travel. By countless, I mean too many to count, literally millions, given my Wiki-research. A Wrinkle in Time, The Time Travelers Wife, Voyager, Time Bound, Outlander (again) and Time and Again are just a few. One book that I actually read was, 11/22/63 by Stephen King, about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This incredibly crafted novel spent 16 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list.  That King guy has real potential as a writer of novels.

As delightful as these forms of entertainment are, and don’t even get me started on the Back to the Future, Terminator or Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure movie franchises, I question whether or not the average person, man or woman, given the ability to time travel, would choose to alter history or simply attend a Beatles concert, replay a high school football game, or simply spend time with a deceased loved one?  Sure it sounds good to take a week off from work, secure a house/pet sitter and put a hold on the mail, assuming you found a secret portal, flux capacitor or magical hot tub (Hot Tub Time Machine was a classic) that could provide you with access to the past or future, would you want to visit Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday at the OK Corral, visit with your late grandparents as an adolescent, or drive a flying car (like George Jetson and Jane, his wife)? There are pros and cons with each, but that’s why I write these thought provoking pieces, to challenge you, the reader, to ride with me through this quandary.

The following are actual “man on the street” responses to the following question, if you could access a time machine and spend a week in the past or future, when and where would you go? To be totally honest, they weren’t actual random people I found on the street, or homeless street people, but you get my drift.

I wouldn’t mind traveling back to the 1950s to see what life was like in a fun and simpler “Happy Days/American Graffiti” time period. No particular time or place, just some random sock hop during that era—Julie C.

I would want to either go back to the late 1960s and spend time in rural Ohio where I grew up or spend a week with my children as toddlers again.—Erin D.

I would like to visit Sicily, Italy in the mid-1800s to see what my grandparents (both sides) were like as children.—Mary Jo DM.

I would travel back to the stock market crash of Black Monday on October 19, 1987. I would spend the entire week loading the boat with smart stock buys that would set me up for life.—Eric O.

I would go back to my senior year of high school and tell teenage me not to date the guy I ended up seeing for three years. I was at a crossroads and made the wrong choice back then and that decision altered my life.—Nicole O.

I might travel forward to see if some of the “Black Mirror” episodes actually came true. –Vanisha K.

I would spend a week with Jesus in Jerusalem or Galileo.—Sean C.

I would blast 20-30 years in the future to make sure my kids are doing Ok. Either that or attend Woodstock in 1969.—Jim L.

I would travel back to 5th grade (1970) to the skating rink in Melbourne, Florida where I asked the cutest girl in our class, Robin Thompson, to slow skate and then lost the nerve to hold her hand. I’ve always regretted that missed opportunity. –Blake C.

I’m an Olympics junkie and would travel back to the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. It would be the week that the “Miracle on Ice” U.S. men’s hockey team beat the Soviet Union in the semi-finals and then beat Finland to win the gold. –Eva G.

Before our children were born, my husband and I visited Paris for the first time. Paris was somewhere I had always wanted to visit, I had studied French in school and we were madly in love. That’s what I would like to do again because it was such a magical time. –Vanessa C.

So I guess it’s my turn. As tempting as it would be to be at one of my more memorable high school or college football games, I would use my chance to travel back to 1988 when both of my parents were still alive. I would take with me tons of pictures of their granddaughters, Hannah and Claire, who they never got a chance to meet. I would spend time asking them all the questions I wish I had asked, but never did.

I would also pay strict attention to all their stories I only half listened to or rolled my eyes through the first time I semi-heard them. I would watch their favorite shows or listen to their radio stations with them without bitching and complaining like I used to.  I would gorge on my mom’s great home cooking (think Paula Dean) and ask my dad to walk me through some basic home improvement skills (think MacGyver).

Without wanting to get too sentimental, we all missed so much by not having them around all these years and I would give anything, even the top-secret plans to my super cool time machine, for a chance to spend just one week with them again.  

For any of my contemporaries in the 50 – 60 year old demographic, I encourage you to read the book Stingray Afternoons by Steve Rushin. Rushin’s memoir vividly describes life and times in the 1970s, growing up in the greater Minneapolis area. His magical depiction of pop culture during that era will take you back to your suburban youth. I have recommended this book to the guys I went to elementary school with, including Mark Peterson, Ron Mendez, Ron Hood, Derek Sousa, Jeff Morales and Luis Pena as well as the neighborhood kids I grew up with such as Chris Fowlie, Terry Ivie, Carlo and Victor Martina, Renny Del Carlo and Albie Cavagnaro.

As Rushin points out, your school friends and your neighborhood friends rarely crossed over so it was completely acceptable to have two sets of best buddies. Those who have read it love to call and recant their own “Stingray” experiences growing up in the shadow of Moffett Field Naval Air Base in beautiful Mountain View (long before it became Google View). In the absence of actual time travel, this book was the next best thing.

I hope you find your own personal method of time travel this summer, when and wherever you choose to go.