1) Can't do it. sorry. The edge is too far away and it folds back on itself. You are stuck here with the rest of us.
2) A vortex is a spiral motion of fluid in a contained area. This can happen around ANY gravity field at all.
Black holes, as you say, rip stuff up, but vortexes don't appear out of nowhere. The whole galaxy is vortex if you think about it.
You COULD use a black hole to travel through time.. could do that. not sure what you mean by the rest of it. Worm holes are pure theory.
3) NOOOOOOOO. Thou shalt not go faster than light. But it's okay, because you don;t have to. Light speed will do just fine for getting to any known place in the universe instantly according to the traveler.
According to a photon, time does not exist, they simply blip about. This stuff about metal and wood is pure malarkey. Realistically if we are going to build vast star ships, we will be making them out of ice. Realistically being a relative term
