‘Workcations’ Aren’t an Escape. They’re Practice.
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Mikaela Miller had never pictured herself stuck in an office, but, perhaps as with many people, it happened anyway. In her 20s she chose a career in biomedical-data analysis—a deskbound job certainly, but one she hoped she could perform from anywhere. Instead, after grad school she found herself commuting to a cubicle in Kansas City, hoarding her vacation time to take an annual two-week international trip. “I had to save all year to do that,” she told me. “I’d work Christmas Eve, or the day after Thanksgiving.” Into her 30s, her life got more sedentary, more routine.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Miller’s employer began allowing remote work. This spring she booked a one-month trip to Buenos Aires in an attempt to realize the peripatetic lifestyle she’d once envisioned. In Argentina, she generally clocked in at the
