Crichton was in another galaxy all together.
Actually, he was still in the Milky Way.
John Crichton, an astronaut from present-day Earth. At the start of the series, a test flight involving an experimental spacecraft of his own design dubbed Farscape I goes awry, propelling Crichton through a wormhole to a distant part of the universe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape
Astronaut John Crichton assumes he'll be home in time for dinner. But a freak accident during an experimental space mission catapults him across a thousand galaxies to an alien battlefield.
http://www.henson.com/fantasy_scifi.php?content=farscape
Thrown into a distant part of the universe, an Earth astronaut finds himself part of a fugitive alien starship crew.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187636/
That would indicate a different galaxy. I will grant that some sites do say a different part of the "galaxy," but they are out numbered by those that say "Universe."
Picard and Kirk did.If Voyager was sent to another Galaxy there was no way it could have made it home.
With help with more technology advanced beings, a warp speed canon that wasn't set in stone, and people who could, by their nature, influence warp speeds (The Traveler). Without their help they would have been stuck without anyway of getting home.
If that nebula contained various civilizations that they could have adventures in, it wouldn't.Besides staying a nebula for a few episodes to a years worth would be boring as hell.
VOY needed to be more stationary, so they could flesh out their areas and the peoples like DS9 did by never being able to leave the Bajor/Cardassia thing behind. Or get away from the Dominion.
Possible, but as I understand it nebula are "Stellar Nurseries", it would be unlikely for them to find a habitable planet. They could, find a species that regularly transverse the nebula allowing Voyager the ability to find its way out. Then their position and direction home could be plotted. I stand by my assertion that being stuck in a nebula would be boring.