Pretty short and sweet, how do you successfully narrate travel between points of interest as a GM without it being all hurky-jerky?

I'm imagining attempting to narrate the epic travel scenes in Lord of the Rings, where they travel for days in fast-forward with nothing really interesting happening, only to then suddenly have time reel down to normal when something is about to happen. Every time I try this in a game though it just feels awkward and abrupt, while also clearly indicating to the players that something is going to happen.

Is there a way to make this a more smooth and natural transition?