There is one contmeplated means of traveling between the stars that might work at present. Using a pusher plate secured to the rear of the ship you drop nuclear warheads out the back and set them off at say several minute intervals. Theoretically you could reach about 10% of the speed of light. Of course radiation is a problem and shockwave absorption.
There was a pilot for a new TV series, that didn’t get picked up a while back in 2008 maybe, where they used this type of propulsion after they had started to leave the solar system.
On a pop culture aside, I would like to see a scifi series based on near future technology. A generational ship to a distant star system, where the ship carried a small cities worth of people and stories revolved around human interaction in such a circumstance. Say a five season arch with multiple generations of characters. Please no lame excuses for leaving like global warming, the suns to hot, pollution!!! How about mankind wants to explore and colonize the universe, for adventure and profit like Christopher Columbus, Megellan.
The pusher-plate nuke ship was the Orion project. Projected speed is about .1c - WAY fast. Unfortunately Carter signed a treaty with the USSR that banned nukes in space and thus Orion. The excuse? We didn’t want nuclear armed satellite in orbit. The reality? Only the US had the industrial base to implement Orion, and the Soviets (and their rool Carter) didn’t want to see us reach Mars, other planets, and even the stars without them. Otherwise an exception for Orion could have easily been added.