Lost in the Balkans: 10 Days Off-Road With No Plan

Me and my friend Ryan set out with no plan through the Balkans… just two backpacks, two bikes, and a camera. We crossed Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia with no route, no bookings, and no idea where we’d sleep each night.

Off-road tracks, remote mountain villages, dirt roads, kind strangers, and the type of freedom you only feel when you’re completely lost.
This cinematic travel film captures what it’s really like to explore the Balkans on the ground: raw, quiet, unexpected, and absolutely beautiful.

If you love motorbike adventures, rugged landscapes, solo travel energy, or long-form cinematic vlog storytelling, this one’s for you.

👇 Get 20% off Thrive Sunscreen using code: BMARTIN20 👇

📸 Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/billyjawn/
📬 Business inquiries → bmartinvideo@gmail.com

Ryans Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatkidryanlittle/

🎞️ Gear I use:
• Sony A7S III
• DJI Mavic 3 Pro
• Canon 514XL (Super 8)
• Gopro 12
• iPhone 15 Pro

TAGS:
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[Music] Heat up here. [Music] Once again, like my other videos, I genuinely 
don’t have any plan. You can ask Ryan. We have a couple pins on a map. That’s actually like 
kind of it. And we’re going to go get amongst it and just kind of let the wind take us. As 
corny as that sounds, sometimes that’s the best way to do it. you plan all this stuff 
and everything just falls apart anyways and you find something else to do and the universe 
kind of throws you in the right direction. So, we’re just going to drive one direction, see 
what we can find and uh explore the Balkans. I have no belly button. Look at my 
belly. Is that from your belly button, dude? My belly button. That’s so bad, bro. What? 
That’s weird. Right as we enter Macedonia. That actually trips me out. It’s kind of crazy. This 
is step one of the universe telling us which way to go. Sometimes that’s the way it goes. Sometimes 
that’s the way it goes. We just entered Macedonia and we are finding a spot to sleep for the night 
and then going to keep heading north. [Music] [Music] Oh, [Music] don’t you Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] We’re here in North Macedonia now. Me and Ryan 
are embarking on this trip to go explore Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, now Macedonia. I don’t know, 
it’s just a region that’s always infatuated me and I want to learn more about it. And Ryan 
last minute was like, I’m coming along, brother. Let’s do it. And uh me and Ryan have 
been friends forever. So, it’s kind of fun to have someone on the trip with me. Our plan is 
pretty not concrete. We’re just going to kind of keep moving up, head to Kosovo, head into 
the Albanian Alps, and uh that’s all we got. [Music] We’re heading towards Kosovo and this is our 
main freeway for the day. We’re full on gas. We’re good to go. But uh yeah, it’s getting pretty 
rural pretty quick. There’s There’s no way. No, dude. This is it. This is the main road. 
This is like we’re deep. This is deep, dude. Okay. Okay. Let’s We get a flat tires 
on this. I guess we have a spare tire, but wish we had more water. Uh yeah, we we’re 
actually [ __ ] on water. That’s what I’m saying. We’re remember we’re on the main highway and 
there was like no stores now. There’s going to be nothing. That’s true. I’m trying not to be a 
hater. Ryan’s being smart. We’re We’re pretty deep right now. The border crossing could be closed. 
It’s true. It’s offse the winter. Like there’s no one here. Come on. We’ll keep driving. We’ll 
get to the village. We’ll get to the village. I’m sure that’d be nice if 
there’s anyone even up. Is there ever even up here? Dude, it’s I don’t know. Our first sign of civilization. It’s the mosque. Is there someone with the 
sheep? Person. Person. Hello. Do you have water? Oh, right there. 
Can we Can we drink? Thank you. Nice to meet you. The road. [Music] It’s good or no? Yeah. Yeah. 
Yeah. Okay. Okay. Open. Oh, sorry, boys. [Music] It’s an amazing water comes from the mountains. [Music] [Music] Yeah. We found this random little village and 
this guy pointed at the well and he’s like, “That’s the water you got to drink.” The best 
water I ever had. I don’t know if it’s coming from the mountains or from a well, but it’s 
good. Try this, Ryan. It says an hour and a half on the road. I feel like it’s going to be 
like 3 hours with the way the road looks, but Border is closed. Okay, that’s Yington open. 
Okay, thank you. He said it’s closed. Only opened it at two months of the year and for people 
who live here. Border’s closed. Ryan was right. And we got to go all the way to another border. 
I can’t believe those guys live out there. Just the border police just live deep, brother. 
Spend all day sitting there. They live deep. It’s cold out. It’s definitely 
cold. It’s not warm. [Music] Nah, [Music] la. [Music] Yeah, I got it. I 
got it. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I have no idea what 
he said. I have no idea. Did you hear me going like I was like, “Yeah, yeah, for sure.” This 
language is a whole different beast, man. How big are the ups? ups are massive right now. But in 
the city, it’s hard. Hey, thank you so much. Nice to meet you. Damn. Some nice nice locals. Just 
had a coffee. Didn’t have Macedonian cash. Had Albanian cash. And uh he just hooked the boys up. 
I was like, “Don’t worry about it. It’s on me.” [Music] Can we take a portrait 
photo of you and your animals? [Music] Is this your village surrender? [Laughter] [Music] Shake his hand. Shake him. [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] to your pat. [Music] Yeah. [Music] It’s okay. [Music] America. [Laughter] do it. I don’t know. Oh, at least I knew you were 
saying I have a gift. Energy. Oh, what is that? Yeah. Yeah. Phone number five. 5 3 1 can be a glitch. Not all show that was I’ve never struggled so much trying to 
trying to communicate with people. I was like, dude, they were trying so hard. They were like, “Oh, dude.” Good smiles though. 
Every local good smiles. [Music] Feel me? Yeah. Y n the kitchen. Y n the kitchen. [Music] I’m calling out. I can’t do it. You’re pissed, dude. It’s like it’s 
just it’s in your brain. Like that’s all it is. So, if you’re outdoors a lot, especially like 
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don’t even see it. Perfect. So, if you want to keep the earth safe and your skin safe, link in 
the description below to pick some up yourself. Thrive, thank you so much for making trips like 
this possible. I really appreciate it. Let’s get back to the video. Hey, that’s the one. That’s 
the one. Oh yeah, boys. That’s the one. [Music] These dudes are stuck. How 
are we helping, bro? Dude, how can we We got to be able to do something. There he goes. Yeah, boys. Oh no [ __ ] They’ve been stuck for it’s been like 
20 minutes of them trying to get out of this thing. We took some uh some flex photos. Now we’re stuck. Maybe there’s something to 
pull them. Oh no. That was so Go, boys. Go. Go. He’s going farther. What are they doing? Oh, 
dude. If he stalls out in the water and the car won’t turn on, he’s [ __ ] Oh, this is brutal. 
Oh boy. New strat. New strat. New strategy. Okay, wait a minute. Oh, [ __ ] my life. They’re 
doing it. No way, dude. That is not on the map. This is not good. Let’s go. Yes, boys. Legends. Yeah, boys. Was it the rocks? Oh, look that worked, eh? Jesus. Good job, boys. 
We couldn’t leave you. We couldn’t leave you out. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. SP. [Music] My goal. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] So this morning me and Ryan have a funny little 
mission on our hands. We are meeting up with like this motorbike guy in Kosovo. His name’s 
Luan. And usually when I come places like this, I try to find somebody on Instagram that’s 
involved with action sports, something like that. It’s always fun to film something different 
when on the road. And uh this guy’s a pretty good pretty good motocross rider and he’s going 
to take us into the mountains of Kosovo and we’re going to shoot some stuff. But the curveball is 
that there’s a language barrier between me and him on WhatsApp. And then last night he’s like, 
“Brother, are you and Ryan like ready to ride? Are you guys we got bikes for you?” And we’re like, 
“Oh, wait. Like we never really ridden a dirt bike. We kind of have to break it to him.” But 
then he also added under the text, “You guys will be riding with the Kosovo champion of motocross 
tomorrow.” And me and Ryan are like, “Bro, no.” We’re a little more nervous than excited at 
this point cuz I’m like, “We might have to buck up and ride or we’re in over our heads.” That is safe 
to say. We are going to the mountains of Kosovo with a stranger and we are going to ride dirt 
bikes with the Kosovo champion of motocross. Yes. Nice to meet you, bro. Hey, what’s up, Ryan? How 
we doing? No speak. No speak. That’s fine. That’s fine. We sign language. Sign language. Quad. We’re 
We’re bad at motorbiking. We don’t know how to uh motorbike, but quad. We can do quad. Yeah, 
dude. We could double the quad if we had to. Oh, USA. USA every day. Not for me. For me. Yes. Look at this. 
That’s it. That United States. Look, look, look. Oh, another one. For me? 
Yes. Thank you. Koso America. Close. Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton. Clinton. Let’s 
go. Let’s go. George Bush. George Bush. Okay. I don’t want I like it. It seems pretty straightforward, but let’s just see if there’s any. 
Let’s just make sure we got it down. What we got, Ry? What we got? Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Ah, so [Music] must be a old aqueduct from I don’t know when. Bear bear poop. Oh [ __ ] 
Air pros on here. [Music] [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] made it. Oh boy. It’s getting a little sticky out here. We’re 
out here. We’re going up the top shooting with the boys. Not a lot of English being thrown 
around here, but me and Ryan are covering the English aspect. And the rest of it, it’s 
a lot of sign language. And uh you go here, I shoot here. I shoot, you go there. Bill, 
you did a great job today on the bike, dude. On the bike. You deserve You 
deserve a flick on this, dude. Dude, I would have been screwed on this thing. That’s 
what kids do on YouTube. They pretend that they rode something they didn’t even ride. 
He’s going to put this in the thumbnail. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Damn. [Music] Oh. Oh, I missed that. He say you are welcome every time. Thank you so 
much man. We appreciate you guys. Your person is [ __ ] guy. Thank you boys. Cheers. Zip. 
[Music] Kosovo is amazing. The people here are so kind. Me and Ryan had the best time. We 
spent two days here and it was just incredible. I’m going to keep heading north. I dropped 
Brian at the bus stop yesterday. Thank you, Lan, for taking me dirt biking and allowing me 
to film everybody and for the awesome patch, the Kosovo America patch. Best gift I’ve 
ever gotten while traveling. Ridiculous. It was funny to go to a place where they really 
love Americans. Um, usually we’re a little bit looked at as like Americans and I don’t blame 
everybody. You know, it’s all good. Some people’s perceptions are different, some people’s opinions 
are different. It’s all good. But it’s just funny to go to a place where it’s like, “Oh, you’re 
from America. Like, we love America.” I I didn’t really know much about the history here, but 
apparently they love Bill Clinton. They have a statue of Bill Clinton in the main capital of 
Kosovo. During Bill Clinton’s time as president, he stabilized the region when Serbia and Kosovo 
were having conflict. America recognized Kosovo as a country, an independent country, because 
that apparently that’s a very disputed fact. Um, you know, worldwide. Next video will be me solo 
camping and solo traveling through the northern regions of Albania and Montenegro. Anyways, thanks 
for watching. I’ll see you on the next one where I will be doing [ __ ] that I don’t know yet because 
I haven’t done it yet and filmed it yet. Goodbye.