How about dividing the map into grids? Like Oro's hideout.
And instead of a list of countries on you traveling Navigation Menu, you have directions (North, South, East, West). Each move you make will cost 1 travel point with a chance of encountering enemies, pick up something from the ground, or an event.
When your icon moves above a location, you will be asked if you want to enter.
*As for traveling from water country, when your icon move across water surface, just think of it as getting on a boat or something.
It makes traveling more realistic & more like a RPG. Fun but it will be more time consuming.
For those who are in a rush, maybe there can be a ride (horse or boat) that would take them there in an instant, but for a cost of course. A limit on how many rides are avaliable might be good too, to prevent players from not using the map travel at all. The penalty for using this lazy travel method will be no chance of finding items or getting an event.
I thought of it while playing on our little friend's server. This is not only better than theirs, but it also improve the gameplay in SL. >3