If you look at some of the posits of brane and string theory, you'll see that some have theorized that gravity itself is centered on another brane, which is why its so weak compared to the other three fundamental forces. This brane is located in a plane of higher dimensions. I further hypothesize that black holes become powerful enough to tap into this brane and if, as some interpretations of relativity suggest, there is a wormhole on the other side, then we could create a tunnel or a bridge that would let you go thousands of light years in an instant (sort of like tunneling through the earth to get to China.) The famous Cal Tech physicist Kip Thorne mathematically formulated the concept of transversable wormholes that explores this theory.

When the LHC comes online, I think we will begin to tap into the higher energies that are required to confirm these theories. Regardless, I believe that within a few hundred years (500 at most) we'll be at the level of technology where we ourselves can transverse the stars. Even if Im too quick, and its 5000, or even 50000 years (very unlikely) that timespan is miniscule compared to cosmological, even geological time scales (as long as our species doesnt destroy itself...) Just think of what advances our species has made in the last 50 years, let alone 500 or 5000! Any alien civilization that existed in a second generation solar system would have a huge leg up on us.