Interplanetary space travel is extremely difficult, the leap to interstellar space is nearing impossible. The vehicles required for such travel would need to be so highly advanced. One thing is certain, the human race will never be able to travel between solar systems in a time period shorter than several human lifespans.
There probably will be future colony missions but these will be long term one way trips. I see two valid methods: Putting humans into some form of cryostasis/induced hibernation state or a spaceship that is a literal city itself with people living and dying on that ship while it travels thousands of years to it's destination.
The prospects are grim and depressing. THe relevance to this post is that Alien civilisations will have the same dilemma. However I'm staying hyped for an ESA or NASA mission to Europa and it's subterranean oceans. Even finding some microbial life would make me cream my pants. As a budding physicist, maybe one day I'll be working on that mission Stares off into the sky longingly
Thank you sauravrungta, a great post about the first ever phenomenon that made me the aspiring scientist I am today ;)
There is one other way long distances may be travelled in a very, very short time frame. The concept is theoretical and we are still to observe one in real life but many things that were once theoretical have been observed. I am talking of course, about the wormholes. If they are discovered one day and we learn how to manipulate them, we could travel inter-stellar distances in a very short duration without breaking the laws of physics like the speed of life barrier.