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Travel Coloring Books for Adults

While Stephanie has been floating around Albuquerque, I’ve been back in Atlanta looking for new ways to feed my wanderlusting soul. I started with awesome twitter chats where I’ve made new friends and come up with great ideas (chat with us here!). Now I’ve moved on to that “stress-relieving” activity that’s all the rage. Yes, I’ve been coloring in coloring books. Not just any coloring books, mind you, but two travel-themed books: Secret Paris and Secret Tokyo. Let me tell you, it’s a wonderful way to pass the time.

Tokyo Coloring Book for Adults - www.AFriendAfar.com

Secret Paris and Secret Tokyo

My friend gave me the Secret Paris book a few weeks back, so when I saw Secret Tokyo in a shop today, I had to bring it home. Having been to both Paris and Tokyo, I was thrilled to start coloring in cityscapes and souvenirs in the colors that I remembered from my trips.

The author that makes the Secret Paris and Secret Tokyo books also makes a Secret New York, so you have 3 beautifully detailed cities covered right there. I’ve found multiple more travel-themed coloring books below. I think they make an amazing gift for your favorite traveler! They’re absolutely perfect for when you’re daydreaming at home, and I can’t wait to take one on a plane to pass the time on a short flight or to keep me busy until bedtime on a long-haul flight. Coloring in the City of Lights on the way to Paris? What better way to get excited about the beautiful colors and architectural details that make that city so unique!

Paris Coloring Book for Adults - www.AFriendAfar.com

Our Favorite Travel Coloring Books

Secret ParisSecret Paris 

Secret TokyoSecret Tokyo

Secret New YorkSecret New York

Splendid CitiesSplendid Cities

CityScapesCreative Haven CityScapes

World Traveler
World Traveler Coloring Book

What do you think of this new coloring book craze? Which of these coloring books is now on your wish list?  Tell us in the comments!

Meagan grew up in the North Georgia Mountains and spent her first trip abroad in Italy. She’s been traveling all over the world ever since, learning Spanish, Japanese, and Thai. She travels for the food, the culture, and the history.

Dreaming of Japan: Tokyo Day Trips

Tokyo was one of my first true loves. I could cross a crowded crosswalk with hundreds of strangers in glowing, flashing, technology-infused chaos, or I could turn down a side street and pass traditional wooden architecture and painted signs as I dipped into a restaurant serving steaming bowls of ramen. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, and yet, instead of feeling isolated by language and cultural barriers, I was drawn to the unfamiliar. Instead of feeling claustrophobic or hopelessly lost in a city many times larger and more crowded than my own, I sought out the quiet gardens and temples, and I zeroed in on the details. Ok, I definitely felt claustrophobic on the subway, but who wouldn’t?

I studied Japanese in college, and after spending the majority of a summer study abroad in the hot springs town of Beppu in the south, my classmates and I headed to Tokyo. It was my second time in the city, and I loved every bit of it. (OK, Akihabara isn’t really my cup of matcha.) My mom, one of my favorite travel companions, joined me for a week after my semester was over, and I was ready for the opportunity to escape the city again by then. Most people go to Kyoto, which is a longer and more expensive trip, but we stuck close to our home base of Ginza for a few day trips. Here are my favorite spots that you can visit outside of Tokyo. Thank goodness for the shinkansen (bullet) trains!

Our favorite Tokyo Day Trips: To Hakone for Mt. Fuji

It was a fast and affordable ride to Hakone on the shinkansen, and since we love train travel, it was an hour of pure excitement! Once we arrived in Gora, we took the funicular railroad up to Souzan and the Hakone Ropeway cable car to a lookout station and restaurant. Now seems like a good time to mention that even though we planned this trip entirely on the weather forecast, the rain came sooner than expected, and Fuji-san was completely covered in clouds. Yes, this was the view of Mt. Fuji from our “scenic view” cable car. Figures.

Tokyo Day Trips - www.AFriendAfar.com

It’s out there somewhere!

You can’t bring us down, though! After eating lunch at the restaurant with the panoramic views of Mt. Fuji and laughing at our bad luck, we did what we do best. We hit the nearest onsen for a day at the spa!

Onsen are the hot spring baths in Japan. They are very, very affordable, even the fanciest ones with beautifully landscaped ponds and saunas. Since we don’t have these in the states, I considered them to be a wonderfully inexpensive spa – minus the massages.

Onsen Photo Courtest of Hotel Green Plaza Hakone

Onsen Photo courtesy of Hotel Green Plaza Hakone. I couldn’t take pictures inside the onsen, of course!

Have you been to an onsen before? If not, your first visit will come as quite the surprise. Since onsen are traditional public bath houses, you won’t be wearing a bathing suit. That tends to make tourists very uncomfortable at first, but after a little bit of relaxing in the soothing hot springs, you won’t want to leave! We visited one of the more elaborate onsen in the area, and spent our afternoon hopping between saunas, hot springs, bubbling jacuzzis, and pools. Some of the pools were outside, lined with plants and filled by waterfalls, and others were inside and surrounded by beautiful rock walls and tiles. After a morning in the rain and fog, this was the perfect way to warm up and relax. What a treat!

Don’t feel too bad about our missed Mt. Fuji sighting. If you’re in Tokyo on a clear day, you can see the iconic beauty from the top floors of the Metropolitan Government Buildings in Shinjuku, Tokyo. We’re stubborn, so we sat up there all afternoon on our last day until its silhouette appeared through the clouds. It wasn’t picture perfect, but it still took our breath away.

Our favorite Tokyo Day Trips: Kamakura and the Great Buddha

You know which day trip wasn’t a total bust? Kamakura! Once again, we boarded the train and headed out of town. We set out to visit The Great Buddha, or Daibutsu, and since we had learned about multiple very old temples along a path nearby, we had a full day planned.

Tokyo Day Trips - www.AFriendAfar.com

The Great Buddha is a massive bronze statue dating back to 1252. The temple housing the statue was washed away by a tsunami in 1498, and since then, the Buddha has stood in the open air courtyard.

Not only did the weather hold out for us on that day, so did the crowds. It didn’t take long for the only tour bus at The Great Buddha to head out, and after capturing this shot of siblings peeking through a lantern, we were able to take pictures of this important piece of Japanese history with no other visitors in the frame. Even so, these two children are still my favorite.

Tokyo Day Trips - www.AFriendAfar.com

After visiting the Great Buddha at the Kotoku-In temple, we headed to Kenchoji. We had read that it is the oldest Zen training monastery in Japan, so we were prepared for a different sort of temple from those that we visited in Tokyo.

I loved the beautiful wooden buildings that were ornately carved but lacked the vivid red paint that covered all of the temples we had visited before. You could really see the temple’s age. The temple was founded in 1246 and completed in 1253. The gardens were beautiful as well, and we had the opportunity to take off our shoes and tour some of the tatami-floored rooms.

Tokyo Day Trips - www.AFriendAfar.com

Tokyo is a fascinating city with so much to see and do, but getting out of town and heading for the countryside and Mt. Fuji are amazing experiences. If you’re headed to Tokyo, be sure to schedule in a day or two for Mt. Fuji and Kamakura. You won’t be sorry!

Have you been to Japan? Tell us about your favorite places in and around Tokyo in the comments! We love hearing from you!

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Meagan grew up in the North Georgia Mountains and spent her first trip abroad in Italy. She’s been traveling all over the world ever since, learning Spanish, Japanese, and Thai. She travels for the food, the culture, and the history.