As you can see, it depends on the playstyle. For me, a couple tiers of Brittle Blade gear and it was a completely different ballgame. Click the "Leveling Guide" post in my signature for more details.
Some quick tips: Single-pull for the beginning of Grasslands; get BB up 2-3 tiers ASAP; run potions constantly; farm the heck out of solo instances and the quests that fit your gear/AA level; skip the quests and solo dungeons that are slow and risky (like the bone quests in Kara Korum are silly at first; later on, with BB4 and a good sword, you can 2-3 pull those without blinking, and the 3 stacking quests makes it worthwhile, but when you first enter KK, ignore them or bring a friend); and don't beat yourself up for all the rezzing (we don't get multiple self-rezzes for nothing).