Travelling to Leeds is technically my first trip since we moved to Nottingham and I must say, it has been quite the experience. I have only been here for about 24 hours but I have already debunked some notions I had about the UK.
For the most part, I always felt that every city in the country would feel the same to me. This is not due to anything wrong but with the country but more to do with the fact that I'm not exactly emotionally attached to any city.
So, I also figured that considering the fact that the quality of life is pretty much the same across the UK, visiting and Exploring Leeds wouldn't be any different from Nottingham.
My assertions about my visit were both right and wrong. It is all the same but different at the same time.
The similarities between Leeds and Nottingham are just about what you'd expect from any city in the UK. There's a bus network, there working traffic lights and you push that button to stop the bus.
There's a busy city center and a diverse group of people there. It is the usual stuff you'd find in any UK City.
The differences are nuanced in the similarities between Nottingham and Leeds. For example, yesterday was Eid celebration and I noticed a much larger Muslim population than Nottingham.
The bus networks, while functioning are much more robust than what you'd find in Nottingham. The length of the trip and how using the bus works seems to be different too.
At Nottingham, buses move in a cyclic fashion while here, the few buses I've used seem to be moving linearly. I don't know if it's a geographical thing or just a different system.
Still on the topic of buses, the buses in this city seem to be somewhat older and make zall kinds of funny noises in operation. The bus screen that tells you which bus stop you're at doesn't always work and in one occasion, I ended up using 2 hours for a 40 minute commute. The Nottingham City transport buses are cleaner, make less noise, have a voice peompter and less vibration.
Another thing about the buses is that they're not exactly colour coded or that's what it seemed like anyway. Again, at Nottingham, buses with the same colour all go through a similar route and then branch of to complete their cycle.
I also didn't notice a tram line but that might either be because I didn't pass through the route or perhaps there isn't one. At Nottingham, the tram basically runs through the entire city.
I haven't been here that long, so this is what I've found so far. Can I live here? Absolutely but it would require adjustment and that in itself debunks my notion about everywhere being the same in the UK.