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Twelve Hours in New York


Tags: film 50mm monopan50 eurotrip2026

In April, when I was looking at flights to Europe, I found an enticing flight option: SF to Newark, NJ and then a little more than 12 hours later, Newark to Glasgow, Scotland. All-in price $482. I could take the train in to NYC and have a fun little day. It would be great! I think I knew, but didn’t quite internalize it was also two red eye flights back-to-back. Anyways, I booked it!

I left SFO late on Saturday evening, and landed in Newark early Sunday morning. I took NJ transit and made it into NY Penn Station, checked my big bags for the day and got going!

I loaded another roll of Leica Monopan 50, and then went to meet Davida for brunch in Nolita.

Woman walking in front of old building
Woman in sunglasses and black shirt that reads 'stop building hell'

Davida

After, I wandered around on my own for a bit, out to the western highway and over to Washington Square Park.

Seal sculpture in a park

The Jenga tower (as seen over, and over, and over again)

Seal sculpture in a park
Corners of a brick building
Spiderman figurines inside windows of a brick building
Two brick buildings next to each other, one lighter and one darker

I caught up Lucy in the West Village for froyo.

Woman smiling on a park bench

Lucy

I went to a spa in Koreatown, got some dinner, and made my way back to the airport with plenty of time to spare before my next redeye flight.

Building corner
Brick building with light reflecting off it
Moynihan train hall

It was a bold, ambitious plan. I don’t sleep very well on planes, so I’m not sure I would attempt it again, but I am glad I tried it this one time!

I packed a bunch of rolls of film and chose to use my one black-and-white roll for NYC, since it was the most “known” of this trip. Fortunately, it was a bright sunny day, and this ISO 50 film was easy to shoot with. Just like the other roll I shot on Monopan, I think it was maybe a little too crisp, but I am generally pretty happy with the results.