I am a bit jealous on guys who travel(ed) the world on their own. When I was younger I was not brave enough to do this. Also for the same reason as you wrote, I want to share the moments with a buddy. Now I am traveling with the whole family, this is fun too.
I would prefer that any time. Sharing is caring, seeing something special and reacting on it together.
I thin a lot of people are jealous on those guys but I always wonder of some of those guys have a bit of an opinion like me about it that they would rather do it together actually
I guess most people always think about the other side of the story.