Many years ago (about 32 to be exact), with a freshly-minted night rating and well south of a hundred hours total flying experience, I was visiting my girlfriend in Kingston, Ontario, with my trusty C-150. She was working on one of the evenings I was there, so I thought I'd go practice some night touch-and-goes. Took off on 25, and turned over the lake to join the downwind leg. Surprise. No lights or visual references over the lake. I sure got onto the gauges in a hurry.
It was a real eye-opener for me. VFR at night over a built-up area is a different beast compared to VFR at night over blackness. The latter is instrument flying, pure and simple. Fortunately I had a good instructor for my night rating who really put a lot of emphasis on instrument flying, including with partial panel.
Here I am still alive 32 years later (and the girlfriend I was visiting is now my wife of 26 years
), though the C-150 is long gone and I now fly an aerobatic Beech Sundowner (for sale if anyone's interested... PM me).