I want a break but not a "break" with my partner. How can I make him understand without freaking him out?

So here’s the dealio:

My SO is the love of my life and a great source of joy. We have a beautiful relationship, full of love, laughter, and amazing chemistry.

However, I’ve noticed we’ve been getting on each other’s nerves a little bit lately. Nothing serious or insurmountable but we bicker a little more than we used to. Now, this may be a natural result of the “honeymoon phase” coming to an end and getting somewhat more comfortable. However, the other day, I realized something: in our entire relationship, we’ve never spent more than 2–3 days apart at a time.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy spending most of my time with my partner, but I also admire couples who can be apart for a week or two now and then and be okay with it.

In the past, when I’ve gone to visit friends on my own, he won’t outright ask me not to, but he does get a little weird about it. And recently, a childhood friend of mine has mentioned wanting to take a 1–2 week trip together to a region of the world he has no interest in visiting (he’s not as much of a travel-lover, and that’s fine).

When I brought it up, he didn’t forbid me from going, but he brought up a bunch of gripes about my “safety” and spending too much time apart. Mind you; I lived in three countries before I met him and traveled around the world. He’s never left the U.S. except to visit the Caribbean and Mexico. I told him he’s welcome to come along, but that if he doesn’t want to go, I fully intend on taking the trip anyway and enjoying myself.

I love this man with all my heart and want to marry him, but I don’t want to limit my travel to destinations of which he approves, which is a rather restricted list by my standards. Also, I wish that he would occasionally be more comfortable giving me some “space.” We’ve never had any issues with fidelity, and I have no interest in screwing around and also trust him 100%.

How can I deal with this and reach a compromise?

Also, please don’t comment “break up.” It’s a total cop-out I’m not throwing out a healthy relationship because of one hiccup that I think is entirely resolvable.