Earth’s solar system is really out in the boondocks

I’ve wondered why Starfleet ships are not recalled to Earth more often and that trips back to Earth are considered to be inconvenient. Turns out that we are really in the boondocks of the Milky Way - and that might explain why no aliens have visited us too. Our closest star is Proxima Centauri - even with warp drive, Earth to Proxima Centauri is not a convenient little trip.

Warp 1 - 4.3 year journey

Warp 2 - 6.5 months

Warp 3 - 2 months

Warp 4 - 24 days

Warp 5 - 7 days

So on the NX-01, it would take a week at Warp 5 to get from Earth to Proxima Centauri, and the NX-01 couldn’t fly at that speed for that long.