Some writing prompts just demand a response, and this is one of them !
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
The Real Question - Is There A Point ?
So Uncle Digby has just dropped dead, I've gone down to his basement and discovered the time machine he built. What do I do next ?
Well first, I'd study the controls really, really carefully. There's no point in going somewhen if I don't know how to come back again. Not that the year 2023 is a brilliant year to come back to, I can think of some much better alternatives.
With that done, I'd try a short hop forward in time. Maybe a couple of hundred years. The logic is simple; if it turns out the world is a blasted, uninhabitable radioactive wasteland, then it indicates that some kind of "Big Oops" event is going to happen in the near future.
Something I don't know is whether time (future or past) is fixed or changeable. Are time travellers observers or can they be active participants ? If time travellers are active participants, then I guess I'm duty bound to move back and forth in time to work out what went wrong. Was it a meteor-strike, supernova (they reckon Betelgeuse might go pop in the next few decades), or did we do it to ourselves ? Sadly, human nature being what it is, I suspect the last will be the most likely.
But whatever happened, it's unlikely I can do anything to prevent it. Meteorites aren't amenable to reason, and neither (it seems) are most politicians.
It is an interesting ethical question whether it's better to let humanity die off and be replaced by whatever comes next - rats ? cockroaches ? or maybe the birds giving the dinosaurs another go ? - or whether I should try to find a point far enough forward in time that the radiation has died down. Then I could pick up friends, relatives and assorted specialists, drop them off at that time and try to re-start humanity. Hopefully we wouldn't just blow ourselves up a second time !
But What If There Isn't A Big Oops ?
If I go forward in time and there isn't an end of humanity, I'd certainly scout forward for a while and observe. I mean, who out there doesn't have a sense of "wanting to see how it all turned out" ?
But I wouldn't look in on people I know, it would be too depressing to see loved ones all old and decrepit !
It would also be interesting to go back in time, purely as an observer. I certainly wouldn't want to risk invoking the wrath of the universe and creating a butterfly effect.
I'd avoid obvious choke-points, like the Crucifixion, assassination of Julius Caesar, Fall of Troy and things like that. It would be like Piccadilly Circus in the rush hour, packed to the roof with time traveller tourists ! There are plenty of other interesting people and places to go and see that attract less interest.
Getting the Goodies
Something I would find incredibly tempting would be to become a collector. 
But how about not saving it, just taking out a few of the most interesting library books with no intention of paying the fine for not returning them ? Or maybe filching King Harold's Fighting Man banner from the Vatican archive before it rots down to dust or gets destroyed in one of the many lootings ? Perhaps swipe the Ark of the Covenant when the Babylonians capture Jerusalem (assuming it's still there....). There are so many interesting things in history that no-one would miss if they were taken at just the right time.
Again there's an ethical question; do I make a "miraculous archaeological discovery" and allow these things to resurface into 21st Century daylight ? Or do I keep them as a private collection, in which case when I die there are going to be some mighty surprised faces ! Perhaps I should just admire them for a bit then re-bury them, although discreetly selling a few off to other private collectors would guarantee an incredibly good income.
And Eventually....
But I think when all was said and done, eventually I'd be most likely to find some point in time where I could just quietly retire and enjoy the good life. Preferably a time after the invention of deodorants and personal hygiene, but before the invention of the internet and surveillance society. I'd merge in with the local population and keep very, very quiet about all the things I'd seen, except maybe to tell a few entertaining and unbelievable fireside stories.