It might come as a surprise to some, but the new movie Hot Tub Time Machine builds on a rich tradition of time-travel literature and film. Award-winning romance writer Gwyn Cready, the author of the new time–travel novel Flirting With Forever (Pocket Books, $7.99), says people are fascinated with shifting time because it lets them ponder what they might change in their own lives. She shares with Larry Bleiberg for USA TODAY her favorite locales linked to time–hopping.

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The Charles Dickens Museum
London
When the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to witness his youth in Dickens´ 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, it marked one of the first times in literature a character traveled in time, Cready says. On most Wednesdays, visitors can get a time-travel experience of their own when they have the chance to write with Dickens' own quill pen. “A thrill for any time-travel aficionado,” Cready says. dickensmuseum.com

Mokuleia Beach
Oahu, Hawaii
The crash-landing site of Oceanic Flight 815 on the TV show Lost can be easily visited on Oahu´s North Shore. The soon−to−be−revealed mystery and complex plotting of the ABC hit have drawn a legion of fans. “It has good classic story lines, and the scenery´s gorgeous,” Cready says. 800-464-2924; gohawaii.com

Gamble House
Pasadena, Calif.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the movie Back to the Future, a huge hit that spawned sequels and theme-park rides. Pasadena's elegant Gamble House, a showcase of Arts and Crafts architecture, was the home of Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), who created a souped-up time machine from a gull-winged DeLorean. “The DeLorean was funny, a perfect time−travel device,” Cready says. 626-793-3334; gamblehouse.org

Woodstock, Ill.
This northern Illinois town stood in for Punxsutawney, Pa., in the 1993 filmGroundhog Day, in which curmudgeonly Phil Connors (Bill Murray) relives a day over and over. The town honors its fame with a walking tour and plaques noting sites from the film. “Woodstock is very proud of their association with the movie,” Cready says. “It´s a very charming little town.” 815-338-2436; woodstockgroundhog.org/pages/tour.html

Newberry Library
Chicago
This is where Henry DeTamble, protagonist of the book and film The Time Traveler´s Wife, works and where he and his wife, Clare, first meet as adults. “They embrace so many time-traveler quandaries, like whether you can be in two places at once,” Cready says. The private library offers tours on Thursdays at 3 p.m. and Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. 312-943-9090; www.newberry.org

Field of Dreams
Dyersville, Iowa
When Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) steps onto the field he builds in the middle of his cornfield in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, he is able to play baseball with Shoeless Joe Jackson from the 1919 White Sox and, more important, his long-dead father. “It´s kind of a magical movie,“ Cready says. “It´s about following your dreams and having something wonderful happen. It´s very symbolic, that field.” 888-875-8404; fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com

Culloden Battlefield and Clava Cairns
Near Inverness, Scotland
Cready calls Diana Gabaldon´s Outlander the most popular time−travel romance novel of all time. It´s the story of a woman who falls through the prehistoric ring of stones at Clava Cairns and finds herself in the 18th century trying to help a Highland warrior at the decisive battle at Culloden, the final Scottish uprising against England. “It´s the book that made me want to become a romance writer,” Cready says. visitscotland.com

Grand Hotel
Mackinac Island, Mich.
Visiting car-free Mackinac Island can feel like traveling back to a simpler time. But the reason this hotel makes the list is the 1980 film Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. The characters are from different eras, yet fall hopelessly in love. “ It´s such a charming hotel. It has an old-timey, magical feel to it,” Cready says. 800-334-7263; grandhotel.com

´Doctor Who´ Exhibition
Cardiff, Wales
The Doctor Who Up Close Exhibition includes props from the longest running time–travel TV show. (It made its debut on the BBC in 1963.) Look for the TARDIS, the 1950s–style British police box Dr. Who uses as his time machine. The device is so well–known that it ´s now a common phrase in science fiction. “A TARDIS has come to represent anything that´s small on the outside and big on the inside,” Cready says. thereddragoncentre.co.uk

CERN
Geneva
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, someday might be ripping the time-space fabric to enable real time travel. “Physicists will tell you that time travel to the future is possible, if maybe just a millisecond,” Cready says. “Who knows what we'll be able to do with our iPhones in 25 years?” Half −day tours of the research lab are available.