Like many games, the aspect of travel is an important one. The best way to describe the travel system within Lord of the Rings Online is "lore-accurate" or better said, the appropriate travel options in corresponding to the novels. The travel system is comprised of three major ways to travel: by foot (like so much of the books), by horse (normal travel) and by horse (swift travel). Those three types comprise the major travel options, leaving out a couple "exceptions" found within the hunter class (which we'll discuss).
Time to put your foot to the gravel and run, son. Running is the primary and often annoying and time consuming major way of travel, as you might expect. With such an epic sized map, this can get old, but it's not too bad as you're journey is consistantly enlivened by beautiful scenery and various wildlife to shoot. You might even get lucky enough to grab a few prospecting nodes or tree branches.
The second way you can travel within the game is by horse. However, there are some limitations to your horse travel. First, you need to PAY the stable master. This can be pricey, especially for lower level individuals, who have little to no cash. The stable master looks like this:
Additionally, you'll only be able to travel to destinations that you've been to - in other words, you're trucking it by foot before you get to ride old Black Beauty. Some destinations are quite the jog, so bring your adidas.
There is hope in sight however, with the Swift travel option at the stable master. Yes, the people at Turbine decided to give us a break occasionally and allow us to relax for but moments as the horse magically appears in it's new location. Swift travel is available to major cities, or, for example - from west to south Bree. The cost is minimal for swift travel in early areas but gets larger in proportion to game economics.
As you can see, the cost to the different places varies in proportion to how far they are and what "level" the area is. I think I'll pass on the Ettenmoors!
When a player completes the introduction quests, he or she is given a "map home" that will reside in their bags. The map home allows you to set a "home" location and magically "portal" back to that location once an hour. This is SUPER convenient when you're out far away and need to come home. You can set your "home" location at nearby milestones in the various cities.
The
hunter has a couple sneaky travel tricks up their sleave. First, at
level 14, they get a run buff that increases their own and party speed
by 15%. What a wonderful thing this is when you pass people on the
roads. Also, later in the game hunters recieve "guiding" abilities that
will let them portal their team members back to a home base location.
Another crafty and wonderful tool. You can get a more detailed guide for LotRO hunters.