When the beta bubble was first removed I must admit I was a little (read...a lot) daunted by the scale of the game and the seemingly huge distances between places. A friend of mine started a little over 160ly away from where I was and I undertook an epic, or so it seemed, journey to get there so we could meet up. Admittedly, this was before the route planner was brought in so it was more of a chore to get from place to place.
Now, after playing for a while, doing rare runs, meeting other people who've started in different places or heading for conflict zones, 160ly seems like a trip to the local shops. Even so far as making a 500ly round trip, just so I could sell my Freagle for 40k because my knowing it was out there was bugging me.