with your cursor on a filename that is a legitimate relative path, you can just press 'gf' to open the file from command mode. there is also a mirrored command

with your cursor on a filename that is a legitimate relative path, you can just press 'gf' to open the file from command mode. there is also a mirrored command of '^xf' in insert mode. slightly different work flow... ^o and ^i get used a lot in conjunction with 'gf', and are also pretty handy in general.