I think that "thought" will be and is the only way these distances can be reached. It's really the only thing I can think of that could travel that far, that fast.
That is my same reasoning. Light speed, even though presently unreachable, would only be enough to explore the nearest star systems. Other galaxies would be unexplorable.
Thought speed on the other side guarantees zero-time travel. As soon as you are able to think about a specific location in the universe and will to be there, you are there. Space and time no more would exist.
This is probably the stuff of extremely evolved souls, since you should need to be able to extend the thought visualization to the physical body.
By thought speed we could reach the huge quasar in the remotest parts of the galaxies. That would be pretty dangerous though, since relocation of the physical body would imply vulnerability to a lot of hazards: extreme temperatures, lack of breathable air mixture, radiations and so on.
Just imagine to land fully into the beam of a pulsar, being inundated by extremely high levels of gamma radiations. The travel would have a sudden end...
