That is especially true of travel.

My biggest travel plan this year involves a lifelong dream of seeing Africa. The 18-day trip will include camping each night and visiting the Okavango Delta in Botswana, Victoria Falls, the Zambezi River, a penguin colony and one of the world's largest deserts.

I know from experience that planning and dreaming is part of the fun. There must be time to find out about medical and visa requirements, to set aside enough money to pay for the adventure and to read up on history and culture.

So, Africa is the year's big travel resolution.

But I have many other travel goals.

A big one is the simple idea of figuring out how to relax.

That might sound strange. After all, a vacation is supposed to be an escape from the ordinary, a way to get the batteries recharged. We are supposed to re-create ourselves when we travel, the very definition of recreation.

Why, then, is it so hard for many of us to build down-time into our trips? We need periods when we simply do nothing more than lounge next to a pool or on a beach reading a good book, listening to our iPods or sitting in silence with our eyes closed and doing absolutely nothing.

I resolve to go on a true vacation where I learn to relax. I will attempt to eat, sleep, read and stay put, resisting my curious nature to try to do too much in too short a time and then need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

I make two other resolutions nearly every year, usually with about the same amount of success.

I want to learn to pack lighter. And I want to lose weight. Realistically, both goals seem out of the question. But hope springs eternal.

Another annual vow that I have more success accomplishing involves avoiding chain hotels, stores and fast-food places while traveling. I try to seek the local, be it a bed and breakfast, unique hotel or classic diner. I am often rewarded with a bit more knowledge about the place I am visiting.

In 2006, I also resolve to savor each place I visit, be it an exotic tropical location with white sand beaches and sweet fruit drinks, a cold big Midwestern city or a rural Western outpost.

When I meet people in new places, I resolve to be a listener and not a talker, asking them about their homes and lives and learning something in the process.

And I am promising myself to spend more nights camped under the stars, more days hiking and skiing and more moments trying to quietly savor the many joys life offers each day.

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Contact Tom Wharton at wharton@sltrib.com or 801-257-8909. Send comments about this column to livingeditor@sltrib.com.