"speed of light can get before interstellar travel is outright impossible"

Time is relative to your frame of reference. If you travel to Proxima Centauri at 99.99% c, it will take you 22 days from your point of reference sitting in the spaceship, which is quite acceptable. On Earth, 4.24 years have passed. So, your family and friends grow old quite fast when you do interstellar travel without them; hence, it's better to take them with you.