AITAH For Not Sticking Up To My Friends

Hi all, genuine question here as I'm new to relationships. First, a little background. My boyfriend and I are in an age gap relationship 10+ years, and my close friends have been very wary of my situation. After meeting him, however, my friends like him a lot and see why I'm with him, but they do still have their guard up understandably. My partner and I have been together about 5 months now and we love to travel together. I'm very lucky that he has a lot of connections so we can often stay at their second homes, something we would never be able to afford otherwise. He is often trying to be nice and do things for my friends because he wants them to like him, because I hold my friends opinions very highly because they are very loyal. So often when we travel and there's extra space where we are staying, he will offer my friends to join in on the free lodging and go with us. Recently, my boyfriend and I were talking about taking a trip to city X together in the near future because he had never been.

Flash forward about a month later. My close friends decide they want to plan a friends trip to city X. I ask whether or not my boyfriend can go since its somewhere he's been wanting to go and he's tried to be inclusive with them about trips. Most of my friends shut down the idea and said they wanted it to just be us. I was fine with this and made it clear that I respected whatever answer they gave me, I just felt bad for my boyfriend. However, they still seemed kinda upset that I asked.

I felt really guilty and didn’t know how to bring it up to my boyfriend. So I waited a week or two to tell him and do so by casually dropping it in a text conversation, which he gets upset about. I agree, IATAH for not having an in person conversation with him and telling him this way. I've already apologized on that end. But additionally, he was upset that I didn't stick up for him with my friends and make a big deal about him not going. My thought process is, these are my close friends and we've only been dating 5 months. I didn't want to have to choose between him and my friends, and I should be allowed to travel without him. I even offered to take the same trip with him the next month, but that didn't really satisfy him. I just wasn't sure what to do in this case because I either piss off my friends or my boyfriend.

1. AITAH for asking my friends if he can join?
2. AITAH for not sticking up for him with my friends?

Optional: how can I handle this situation better in the future besides having a better conversation with my boyfriend about the trip. Thanks!