I was just in Thailand for Christmas. I can tell you definitively people there will help you in a heartbeat if you get hurt. Alone or not. The Thais are absolutely wonderful people.

I was going for "the advantages of companionship", not "strange people don't help you".

I'm sure the Thais are absolutely wonderful, but do you really think that in the USA or France or Egypt people would just let you lay on the ground in pain with a broken leg?

I disagree. I travelled with one of my best mates driving through the States. He ran out of money half way and went home. While it was fun with him, it was really no different to being at home, we'd do the same things, except in a different country.

It wasn't until he left that I actually started meeting tons of other travelers. I've met many who are still friends many years on, albeit all around the world. I got to share experiences with new people and saw things through different eyes and cultures.

I think travelling on your own teaches a lot about yourself, and it drags you out of your comfort zone. No one wants to be that lonely guy behind a book at the hostel bar...

As for travelling in Thailand alone, I did that, and met some of the most fun people on my trip. The thing is, a place like Thailand is no longer a strange and distant place, it's full of travelers and backpackers doing the same thing you are. And there are few things cooler than traveler's karma, get a favor and then return one to someone else...

Doing things yourself isn't as lonely as it makes out to be...

I disagree. I went travelling around the world on my own. In fact I was never alone because I was open to meeting new people and met a lot of people. Friends travelling in pairs tend not to make new friends so easily, until they get sick of each other. I made some amazing friends this way. I know lot of female friends think differently due to safety, and this is fair.

"always"

I often wonder what kind of mindset it takes in order to so easily and naturally conflate personal values with objective truth.

HN can be quite philosophical at times, and that is exactly (or "to a certain extent") how an unknown number of people like it. Insofar as my search space is concerned, the probability of having the weighted scores of advantages two persons travelling outside their home city boundaries, provided that said destination is not been previously traversed, then the results of said traversal for the first time outweighing that of doing so alone has been unity for all measurements that I had taken.