Warp travel is the main method by which interstellar travel is achieved. It functions using Roosevelt’s algae. This algae, discovered in 2051, was observed to be able to warp when exposed to light. Matter immediately around the algae would be teleported as well. It was further discovered that if a sphere was constructed with algae all around it, the sphere and its contents would also be transported.
Spaceships were then constructed with two outer layers of metal, and between these layers a colony of algae is kept. Lights fixed to the outer layer pointing inward are activated at very bright luminosity, exciting the algae and causing it to teleport. The teleportation distance depends on the intensity of the light (scales linearly) and the amount of algae (scales exponentially, although mass of the object transported also decreases distance exponentially, meaning the square-cube law must be considered). After a teleportation, the algae must rest for around a minute before they can warp again. An average ship allows teleportations of around 4 light years.
Given this average distance, it takes approximately 17 days to travel from one end of the Milky Way galaxy to the other, but 440 to travel from the Milky Way galaxy to the Andromeda galaxy.
Because of the relative ease of exploring our galaxy and difficulty of exploring others, while many exploratory expeditions have been made to other galaxies, they have mainly been scientific in nature with no serious attempts to establish civilization beyond small colonies.