As the global market is becoming more competitive, one trend is evident—the need for increased development in the affective domain (Majid, Eapen, Aung, & Oo, 2019). American schools focus less on experiential opportunities and more on content driven instruction designed for performance testing (Pierre & Oughton, 2007; Robles, 2012). Therefore, affective learning stays dormant leaving a gap in the development needed outside of testing and without educational institutions teaching affective skills, many graduates are unable to handle adversity or empathize with diverse groups (Adams, 2012; Gale, 2017; Majid, et al., 2019; Robles, 2012; Sethi, 2016). Specifically, cultural competency is of high value in today’s economic landscape and failure to develop cultural competence carries negative consequences (Dean & East, 2019; Mitchell, Skinner, & White, 2010). Global travel is a transformative learning medium in which college students report growth within affective development and perceived changes in cultural competence (Alexander, Bakir, & Wickens, 2010; Cheiffo & Griffiths, 2004; Nunan, 2006). The adolescent learner is different from the adult learner in the areas of peer influence, brain development, and taking risks (Jaworska & MacQueen, 2015; Steinburg, 2009; Scott, Duell, & Steinburg, 2018) but there is a lack of scholarship evaluating the experience of the adolescent within the global travel context (Dean & East, 2019; Weenink, 2008). I created a qualitative study to investigate the effect of a global travel experience on six adolescents, with a focus on their perceived cultural competency development.