Akademik

n.

A vacation where a significant amount of time is spent reading email and performing other work-related tasks. Also: fakeation, fakation, facation. [fake + vacation.]

—fake-ationer n.

Forget about staycations. They're so 2008. The new trend for 2010 is the fake-ation. As an avid fake-ationer myself, I had mixed feelings about seeing the results of the latest traveler survey from Newton-based TripAdvisor....The survey, which polled more than 3,000 people who use TripAdvisor, also shows 62 percent check their work e-mail while on vacations and 13 percent call the office to check in.

—Jon Chesto, " TripAdvisor finds an increasing number of "fake-ationers" who take their work on the road: http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/massmarkets/2010/11/09/tripadvisor-finds-an-increasing-number-of-fake-ationers-who-take-their-work-on-the-road/," Mass. Market, November 9, 2010

While the ability to access work e-mail on the go has helped to improve office productivity, it also comes with its disadvantages, namely, the rise of the fake-ation.

—Cheryl Tan, " Sand, sea, surf...and the office: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2011/02/08/5295790.htm," The Straits Times, February 8, 2011

Instead of taking a vacation, I take a facation. You know what I mean, don't you? It's a fake vacation. You stay connected and though you're not in the office, you still do all the things you'd normally do if you were at your desk and in your office.

—Phil Gerbyshak, " Don't Take a Facation!: http://everyjoe.com/work/dont-take-a-facation/," EveryJoe, February 16, 2009

The word fake-ation has as many meanings as it does spellings:

• Calling in sick when you're healthy.

• A miserable or problem-filled vacation.

• A pretend vacation where you stay at home but take steps to make it appear as so you went away (e.g., applying tanning cream).

The last of these is probably the most popular, and it's also the oldest:

As vacation time looms, are you bummed about the high cost of gasoline and the expense of cottage rentals and hotels?...Ah, a solution is at hand — take a synthetic vacation that makes you look as though you went somewhere.

— Can't afford a real vacation? Try this fun fake-ation: http://articles.courant.com/2004-06-03/features/0406030374_1_rentals-office-workers-hamptons," Hartford Courant, June 3, 2004