Beyond Tourism has undergone a shift from supporting expats abroad to supporting skilled immigrants in the USA. We are still open to providing cultural training to expats living abroad. Please schedule a 15 minute discovery call with Renae to discuss your questions and set up your session.

 Have you ever booked an international trip, thinking you would explore the world and change your perspective? Then you ran into unspoken cultural expectations, got confused and embarrassed, and walked away from your opportunities to actually grow and change? You walked away from the exact thing you said you wanted. Being culturally unprepared for international travel is common, because it’s rarely discussed.

But just because you cross an international border doesn’t automatically mean you will be changed. You can visit the Eiffel Tower, The Great Wall of China, Victoria Falls, and come home with the same assumptions you had when you left.

 Common mistakes travelers make when they interact cross-culturally.

  1. Not understanding how their own culture impacts their behavior.

  2. Allowing unexplored assumptions to damage cross-cultural friendships.

  3. Not knowing the right questions to ask when engaging interculturally.

  4. Not knowing how to act when confusing situations arise.

It takes a lot of time to pack up and take yourself across the world. Don’t just take pictures of your experience, become a different person.

You spend a lot of money traveling across the globe, you want your travel to be impactful on who you are as a person.

Making friends across cultural borders is harder than you think, and you need to be ready to face confusing interactions and unspoken expectations.

Traveling or moving internationally is hard enough as it is, worrying about apartments, hotels, visas, flights, and the practical side of things. Don’t ignore your preparation for capably building community while abroad.

A young woman with curly red hair reading a travel guide about Seoul, Korea, in a brightly lit room near a window.

Me in Seoul in 2005.

That Lonely Planet guide got a lot of use.

A digital illustration of a world map in white on a blue background.

Introducing…

The Individual Intercultural Training to build your Cultural Intelligence skills

Here’s what you will get…

🧭 A Personalized 2-Hour One-on-One Training Session
Tailored to your goals, cultural context, and life situation. You’ll receive real-time guidance, real-world scenarios, and actionable tools.

🌍 Intercultural Self-Awareness
Discover how your own cultural lens affects your assumptions, communication, and decisions—and how to adjust with intention.

🧠 Practical Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Strategies
Learn to read between the lines, recognize cultural patterns, and flex your behavior to build trust and credibility across cultures.

✈️ Immediate Application
Whether you’re heading to Germany, Ghana, or your next Zoom call with a global team, walk away with clarity, confidence, and a custom plan.

What did you learn while working with Renae?

“I feel like I understand myself better by looking through a cultural lens.” Jody

“I learned that cultural curiosity and humility can be done without coming off as rude!” Rachel“I learned about individual versus collective mindsets, and that we are very individual.” Julie

Beyond Tourism uses the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Model to assess your current abilities and help you learn to communicate cross-culturally better.

Download a free sample report here.

Read Recent Blog Posts

Featured
Three Cultural Lessons I Didn’t Expect to Learn in 2025
Three Cultural Lessons I Didn’t Expect to Learn in 2025

In 2025, three moments shaped my understanding of culture. They didn’t all take place abroad. One was a slow lesson I learned over time while at home.

Going Beyond Curiosity: Cultural Intelligence on the Thoughtful Travel Podcast
Going Beyond Curiosity: Cultural Intelligence on the Thoughtful Travel Podcast

On this podcast episode, we spent time discussing what to do with cultural knowledge once you have it. How can increased awareness improve everyday communication? How can travelers use cultural intelligence to build more meaningful connections? And how can this mindset extend beyond travel into work, relationships, and community life?

How Cultural Intelligence Helps You Build Stronger Relationships Across Cultures
How Cultural Intelligence Helps You Build Stronger Relationships Across Cultures

If you are a world traveler of any sort (digital nomad, studying abroad, moving abroad) and you are looking for meaningful conversations, real friendships, and the feeling that our travel is more than a vacation, this article is for you. Many of us worry about making friends abroad, and rightly so.

Even with the best intentions, building relationships in a different cultural setting can feel confusing or unexpectedly difficult. For example, you think you’re being friendly, but the other person seems reserved. You think someone is rude, but actually they’re communicating in a normal way for that culture.

Investment is two hours and only $300. Some businesses include long-term coaching, counseling, and a significant financial contribution.

This 2-hour session is perfect for people moving abroad, digital nomads, international travelers, volunteering abroad, studying abroad, and people who are ready to get started learning about cultural differences without committing thousands of dollars and months of time.

Questions? Email Renae at renae@goingbeyondtourism.com

Schedule your individual training today

I’m passionate about using my knowledge to help people connect cross-culturally.

With so many people traveling internationally, I firmly believe this knowledge must be affordable and accessible to everyone, that’s why the cost is so low.

What is Cultural Intelligence?

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) enables individuals and organizations to be successful in today’s multicultural, globalized world. CQ is the capability to function and relate effectively in culturally diverse situations.

Beyond Tourism uses the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Model to assess your current abilities, your cultural preferences. Beyond Tourism can help you learn to identify and adapt to cultural differences.

The CQ model is based on decades of research on intelligence and cultural exchange. Soon Ang and Lynn Van Dyne are the researchers that led this unique line of inquiry and developed the model. Follow this link to explore the research basis for the CQ model in more depth.

Got More Questions? I’ve Got Answers

What is the assessment like?

There are two things measured during an assessment. First, your cultural values will be measured (for example, individualism vs. collectivism). Second, the four dimensions of CQ will be measured. Those are CQ Drive (motivational CQ), CQ Knowledge (cognitive CQ), CQ Strategy (metacognitive CQ) and CQ Action (behavioral CQ). This is the actual measurement of your cultural intelligence that can grow with time and effort and predicts your intercultural effectiveness. Your results will be presented to you on a percentage scale, based on the hundreds of thousands of others who have taken the same assessment around the world. During our workshops and in debriefs we go into much more detail about these 4 dimensions of cultural intelligence, how they interplay and how to improve your scores.

A diagram with four orange boxes describing multicultural competence components. The top left box is labeled "CQ DRIVE" and explains your interest, persistence, and confidence in multicultural interactions. The top right box is labeled "CQ KNOWLEDGE" and addresses understanding cultural similarities and differences. The bottom left box is labeled "CQ ACTION" and focuses on adapting in multicultural contexts. The bottom right box is labeled "CQ STRATEGY" and pertains to planning for multicultural interactions.

Investment: only $300

The world continues to become more interconnected, and cultural intelligence skills are the skill that we all need for the future. In gaining cultural intelligence skills, you gain an advantage for your future career, education, or wherever life takes you on this big, beautiful planet.

This knowledge is important for all of us, and I believe it must be accessible to more people.

This training is not right for someone who…

…expects people from other cultures to act the same as them.

…only wants to take glamorous pictures of food and landmarks while abroad.

…prefers to stay in their comfortable cultural bubble.

 This training is perfect for someone who…

…is moving abroad.

…is a digital nomad.

…plans to travel internationally for the first or 50th time.

…works domestically with people from other cultural backgrounds.

…values genuine connection with people different from them and wants to be better.

Book a Discovery Call today
A woman with wavy gray hair and glasses, smiling and wearing a blue floral dress, sitting with her arms crossed against a dark green background.

Renae Ninneman

Founder of Beyond Tourism

renae@goingbeyondtourism.com

See my blog post featured on
Travel Massive, entitled:

If Travel Is The Best Education, Are We Missing The Lesson?

Featured on the following podcasts:

Moving Abroad Coach Podcast: Episode #129 Want to Adapt Abroad? Cultural Intelligence Is the Skill you Need (with Renae Ninneman)

List on Spotify ** Listen on Apple Podcasts ** Listen on BuzzSprout

If Travel Is The Best Education, Are We Missing The Lesson? featured on Travel Massive

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast: Episode #358 Solo Travel for Women

List on Spotify ** Listen on Apple Podcasts ** Listen on YouTube

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast: Episode #374 Cultural Intelligence for Travellers

List on Spotify ** Listen on Apple Podcasts ** Listen on YouTube

The Human Adventure: Episode #199 Hidden Currents Of Culture And Adventure with Renae Ninneman

List on Spotify ** Listen on Apple Podcasts **