Only thing to add to that is bring *good* earplugs and a sleep mask. If you're in a common room, you'll find every variation of polite/rude guests, loud/quiet sleepers, early/late risers.

I toured through the Balkans about ten years ago. Overall, they were so happy that someone was choosing to vacation in their countries that I was treated warmly - which was reassuring when it came from machine-gun toting border guards.

Macedonia had slim pickings. One time I slept in the spare room of a Štip TV/radio station that they kept around mainly for guests that traveled to be on a show.

Sarajevo hostel was great, I made friends and explored the abandoned winter olympics village - it was a trip walking through the graffiti-covered luge course.

The whole region was developing at the time, but there are hopefully still regions left 'wild' - after spending months there, rolling in to a fully landscaped/gardened area on coastal Montenegro was a shock.