“Travel more, love better, hate less” – turning these simple words into a lifestyle are Binario 12, a duo of travel content creators, Chiranthana Arsakulasooriya and Nadi Haputhanthri, originally from Sri Lanka and currently based in Milan, Italy.
Since their humble beginnings as an Instagram channel in 2018, Binario 12 has grown into a massive social enterprise, amassing an impressive audience of dedicated followers who consume their content religiously. Since then, they have developed two YouTube channels: Binario 12 and more recently Binario 12 Backstage, the former of which was recently awarded YouTube’s prestigious “Silver Play” button.
Owing largely to their regular upload schedule, making sure to keep their audience well-fed with an endless stream of content, the duo has made a staple of sharing polished high-quality travel vlogs paired with raw unedited footage of the behind-the-scenes madness that follows anyone who chooses to live out of a suitcase – or in their case, a well-organised backpack.
The origin story
Allowing us a little sneak peak into their two-person world, which they’ve lovingly nurtured, both Nadi and Chiranthana shared with us a deep-dive into their life, which even perhaps their adoring fan base, the Binario 12 family, may not know.
Before we get into anything, for anyone who is new to the “Binario 12 Mafia” (their Facebook group created by fans who post and interact with the duo regularly), Nadi and Chiranthana are a married couple originating from Sri Lanka, whose absolutely adorable wedding saga – for which they travelled to Sri Lanka – is chronicled on their vlogs. Chiranthana was born in a small seaside village in Kottapitiya near Chilaw and moved to Italy with his family in 2010, and Nadi was born in Lebanon in Beirut, and later lived in Wellampitiya in Sri Lanka for a few years, then moved with her family to Italy in 2006.
The couple, after meeting eight years ago, immediately developed a kinship due to their shared passion for travel, which brought them closer together. Paired with their motivated personalities, they chose to pursue a life together and in doing so built a community around what united them. “Thanks to this passion that unites us, we have learned to never give up and to live with simplicity, appreciating the little things in life. Now thanks to Binario 12, we have the possibility, as we have already said before, to share our life with many people,” they shared.
Interestingly, their channel name too stems from the beginnings of their love story. “‘12 දුම්රිය වේදිකාව’ (railway platform) is the place where we first met and where we first kissed,” they said, and so they chose to name their joint effort as such, adding that trains have a great meaning to them, with trains in themselves often being a symbol of a journey.
“Just get on a train, maybe one that takes you only three hours away from home, but that unique feeling of being a little detached from everyday life still enters your mind,” they shared, and of course “Binario”, which in Italian means “train track”, is the representation of their relationship – two parallel lines that run the same road, and is the perfect symbol of 50/50.
The duo shared that this is most important to them “because in life, the two of us are always like this, whether they are problems, joys, or responsibilities, we divide them equally. We have no differences between men and women.”
The success behind Binario 12 truly stems from both Nadi and Chiranthana’s implicit relatability; while the couple may be worlds away from those of us in Sri Lanka, doing things many of us would likely never have the opportunity to do, their grounded nature is humbling.
“When we were little, we saw what it is like to live in Sri Lanka and we know very well that taking a trip for many is a big problem, both due to economic reasons and for other reasons, so we are really grateful to be able to take virtually all the young kids with us who have a passion for travelling but do not have the opportunity.”
New concept content creators
We are well aware that creating content is relatively easy these days, and if you wish to make an impact, it really does boil down to your originality and if you are able to reach your audience in a truly genuine way. It would seem that Binario 12 has cracked the code on this, and the duo shared that they do in fact make a concerted effort to be contemporary and to evolve, while dedicating a lot of time to conceive new ideas and concepts.
“With social media, we cannot live within a frame. The public gets bored easily and wants new things. This is the challenge, but there’s also beauty in that – thinking like a content creator and also thinking from the point of view of the public, preventing their desires, and above all creating content that no one would expect, giving the ‘wow’ effect.
“What we do is make the viewer live in a journey; we try to create a unique experience. We usually prepare the viewer by explaining all the details and creating that desire to explore a new place and then we deliver that experience. As creators, you have to be original and not follow the crowd but be unique. This is what we believe makes a content creator a new concept content creator,” they said.
With regard to the saturated market in which they are in, with travel content being abundant, they said that while it isn’t easy, they believe that uniqueness comes from within and you should find a way to reflect your unique personality in your content. Above all, however, both of them admitted that they have been incredibly lucky to have their particular audience, their “fantastic Binario 12 family”, adding: “They give us the energy to always create something more special. First, you need to value your audience, because they are spending their time to see your content which they have chosen from thousands of others available.”
“Binario 12 is our lifestyle, thus our audience sees who we really are, so there was never a need to act or stage anything. We think our audience is with us for who we really are and for the experience we bring to them. Because of that, we don’t have any kind of pressure. It is probably, as we mentioned before, because we give a lot of value to those who look at our content and we value this act, and we also feel and know from the feedback we receive that it is appreciated,” they said.
Full-time travel and finances
The secret to a life as bohem, always on the road without breaking the bank, according to the Binario 12 duo, is apparently being organised. Who would have thought? It would seem the couple is extremely organised, and obsessively so.
“We plan everything and make lists. So since the beginning of our history together, we have always had a clear idea of wanting to be independent from working under someone, and we have organised and prepared for it,” they said, and while it did take them several years and much sacrifice – a lot of hard work, late-night studying, babysitting, housekeeping, and even selling cakes and cupcakes at school to pay for their travels – they’ve slowly reached their goals.
Making the transition from working for two American multinational companies to being completely independent for almost a year now, the duo expressed that they are really proud of what they’ve managed to achieve, having started entirely from scratch.
Sinhalese language and global appeal
The duo said that since their beginnings, what they wished to do was create content for the boys and girls in Sri Lanka; Sinhala being their shared mother tongue, they chose to utilise the language, adding also that there’s plenty of English language travel videos, but it was important for them to bring quality content about and to Sri Lanka.
The advantage of making videos in English or in Italian has not eluded them; they would certainly reach a wider audience, but they commented that it was never the purpose. However, they do include English subtitles – but they believe that if they were to do it all in English, they would not have been able to capture the effect they wanted.
Responsible content
One thing that will draw you to Binario 12 is their categorically positive content, and the duo seems to have realised the effect of the sunny dispositions, particularly during their 2020 lockdown. They shared that the internet, with all its beauty, remains a perilous place where there’s an overabundance of negative content.
Deciding that this is simply not them, they had taken it upon themselves to always deliver positive and constructive messaging in their content. “We must value the role we have in society. We must think that most of the public is young, so it is a duty towards the future generation.”
The duo have also set themselves apart in addressing topics that would otherwise be considered “controversial” in Sri Lanka – topics travel content creators would often shy away from, considering they do not concern the travel sphere. Discussing and expressing their opinions on equality and raising awareness about the LGBTQ community, they stated: “If someone starts talking positively about it, slowly people begin to see things from a different point of view and maybe change their mentality.”
For you to get started with Binario 12
According to both Nadi and Chiranthana, if you wish to join the Binario 12 family, the best thing is to start with their very first vlog, “The Trip to Spain”, adding that if you want to get to know their journey and witness how they’ve grown form that first vlog to their current content, the struggle in creating content on a budget, limited camera equipment, etc., perhaps it may inspire you to keep going and grow as they did, or perhaps you wish to start from their two months in the deserted island of Elba spending the lockdown during the second wave of Covid-19.
“Travelling for us is the meaning of life – it is what our hearts beat for. Each of us has a passion within us and when you have the opportunity to cultivate it and carry on, you can live happily,” the duo said, sharing on a closing note that the feeling of arriving in a new place, seeing new things and people, and encountering new tastes or smells is an unparalleled experience. They expressed their utmost gratitude for the blessings they’ve received to be able to share all these experiences with so many people, and said that they are “truly, truly honored”.
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