http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,3472.0.htmlThis is a list of local playing groups that you can contact - or put your details in there and they might find you.
I live in Australia and bought almost all my cards from Ebay US stores. However, the price for shipping has gone through the roof though (they often want often 30 USD plus to ship a box when a year or two ago it was at most 15 USD - i suspect they want to make a hefty profit on postage unless the US postal system has had a 100% increase in international postage over the last two years)
Either way - it is possible to buy complete boxes posted for around $40-50USD and sometimes cheaper - complete sets for around $30USD sometimes (obviously for the cheaper sets).
I would recommend GCCG - theres a small learning curve - but i now can play LOTR anytime i want - before that it was only when i could get together with friends (which is pretty rare for me these days).
Some of us are trying to set up a PC (if may take awhile) but if successful one possibility is to introduce cards that can be legally printed from high-refs pdfs and played (similar to what Star Trek and Star Wars PCs do). This will make playing the game easier for newbies.
The game is definately worth playing IMO - there are so many playing formats and so many cards that make for an huge variation in play. You'd have to play alot of games to exhaust every playing possibility.