How far into intergalactic space would you have to go to see the Milky Way? If in the distant future a ship were somehow able to move beyond the galaxy and into intergalactic space, how far would it have to go before we could look out a window and see the Milky Way in its entirety, rather than just edge-on as we see it from Earth?
We can calculate the distance we need to be from an object in order for it to be any arbitrary angular size using the formula $D=\frac{d}{2\tan(\frac12\delta)}$.  In this case, $D$ is the distance from the object, $d$ is its diameter, and $\delta$ is the angular size.  The Milky Way's diameter is 100,000 light years.  If we want the Milky Way to appear as large as the Sun appears from the Earth (0.5$^\circ$), we would need to be 5,700,000 light years away.  If we want it to appear much larger, we could be closer.  For the Milky Way to be the size of a 1 meter circle held at arm's length (90$^\circ$), we would need to be 50,000 light years away.