Let's just start out by saying that Northwest is a bunch of liars and they won't let you carry on what their web page tells you that you can carry on. When you get to the gate, the Suitcase Nazis get your pass. There is one woman who's sole purpose is to yell out to everybody at your gate and all the surrounding gates that you brought too many bags on the plane.
They will explain to you that there really isn't enough room for all that luggage to be carries on and you will thank them for being required to check it in. We haven't thanked them yet, but I imagine someday we will thank them.
The flight to Narita, Japan (our stopover) was rather uneventful except for the crappy service of the Northwest flight attendants. Marilyn Knudson was there to make sure that you didn't get anything that would accidentally make you happy or indeed too comfortable. My new motto is: Never trust old flight attendants who have their name embroidered on their apron. They've probably been working the job since Boeing rolled out their first passenger propeller airplane. They're union and they're not going to take any crap from you.
After two hours at Narita (enough time to get some really good curry), we jumped on a plane to Taipei. Taipei was about a 4-hour flight, which was meant to be the place where we got a little bit of sleep before we got to Taiwan.
Northwest Airline's flight from Narita to Taipei actually has good service. There were no old, white, flight attendants with their name embroidered on their apron. I do want to make a point, though, that as soon as you hear something about Typhoons in your destination country, it's time to consider waiting a couple of days before you leave.
Actually, it wasn't all that bad. Not really worse than your average roller coaster ride. It just makes you start to worry when the captain tells the flight attendants to buckle up and shortly after you, take a sudden dip in altitude.
The turbulence was not the scary part though. The scary part actually came when we went to land. We seemed to be fluctuating by 10 feet or so higher and lower as we descended towards the airport (at least I hoped we were going towards a airport). When the wheels hit the runway I swear we turned to a slight angle. Maybe it was my imagination, though because I'm pretty sure that airplanes can't land sideways.
So my first report of Taipei is: It's hot, it's humid, and it feels like the bathroom right after you get out of the shower (Probably 100% humidity). The food, so far, has been amazing and I think I'm going to have a good time.