I bought the Anaconda, engineered it as best I could, but it was... disappointing. As I read around and looked at other people's builds, I concluded that the problems were: 1) not focusing on building a dedicated explorer, general purpose stuff had to come second; and 2) not submitting fully to the engineering grind. I couldn't afford to make more big, expensive mistakes, so I decided to build a dedicated Dolphin. I unlocked engineers, I collected sensor fragments, I got hyperdicted. I dumped luxuries like docking computers, I fitted a luxury cabin and a Guardian FSD booster. She made 60 LY a jump, dry, a joy to fly.
A rich recluse offered me 30 mil to take him almost to Sag A*, my plans were to go just a little further.
It was a great trip. I knew that I'd made some first discoveries in Hawking's Gap, so tracked over that way until I was seeing undiscovered systems, then up through Norma Expanse, and Arcadian Stream. I smelled the roses, and the Notable Stellar Phenomena. Having not yet successfully delivered a long-range tourist I was wary of Sag A*, but even if I got scanned, I couldn't come all this way and not see it. It was worth it.
The journey back was profitable. I discovered two earth-likes, and one system with a lifetime supply of terraformables. I delivered my tourist home without trouble, and netted enough to buy and outfit a second Anaconda. That gave me an idea...