Time travel? Every good author does it

H.G. Wells captivated our minds with the story of The Time Machine, a device that allowed people to be transported into the future. It is a wonderful story, but authors don't need a tangible device. They already have one. It's called the creative mind. Even writers who concentrate on modern times take readers to other places and events, thanks to story line creation.

I wondered where I would put myself in history if I had the choice. I found the answer while watching a PBS documentary on train travel in northern Italy, especially the arrival in Venice. The show's host used a old travel guide from the early 1900s to illustrate his points. That guide book told of the introduction travelers received in Venice. The most prominent visitors flocked to the city because it was a haven for the rich and entitled. It was a place of great villas and venues where the rich could enjoy the benefits of their status. British upper class loved to come here.

The guide book welcomed visitors to Venice by pulling into the Santa Lucia train station. Visitors then walked down the steps to a line of gondolas that were ready to whisk them to their temporary quarters in the city. I have pulled into the Santa Lucia station, and I know the view from the steps of the station. The line of gondolas has thinned out because the main transportation source now is the water taxi, or vaporetto. My wife and I chose to walk to our hotel in the Santa Croce section, and we entered the main part of Venice by walking over the Scalzi Bridge.

What if I was back in the early 1900s when I visited? That is the time I would prefer. It was the time of bowler hats and suits for men, and women in their finery. It is far from the casual slacks and T-shirts of today's travelers. I would have loved to walk down the steps of the station and head to a gondola, and be taken to my destination. I would have loved to be in a suit and a bowler, and my wife Deb (or more properly Lady Deborah) in a white gown, and she would shade herself with a parasol.

There is one caveat to this wish. I would want to have the mind I have now, which knows of the tumult that was awaiting those early travelers. I would want to know about an archduke being assassinated in Sarajevo, and the tangle of alliances that led to the "war to end all wars." I would have that knowledge and watch those of privilege as they went about their lives. Venice was their adult playground, and the specter of approaching war had no impact on them. They would carry on with their parties, and wear masks like the entitled used to do in Venice. They would think their lives were safe and secure, and they would laugh and sip champagne.

And I would know better.

That's my type of time travel. Care to join me?

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