We always pretended it was named after us. For most of my childhood, we spent a January fortnight in one of the green weatherboard lodges at The Prom. Swimming to Whale Rock, riding bikes at sunset along Norman Bay, squeaking the sand at Squeaky Beach, running down the dune at Picnic Bay, summiting Mount Oberon – all part of a city kid's introduction to true natural beauty. One year, Mum read us Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. We were freaking out about "big bad banksias" all week.

MERRICKS BEACH

My family had a beach house there. Unpaved roads, no shops. I sneaked my first kiss on the concrete tennis court at Merricks Beach. It boasts a rustic, if somewhat seaweedy, community perfection that is gone from most of the Mornington Peminsula. Residents used to remove the Merricks Beach Road street sign so people wouldn't come. The very fact I've mentioned it means I'm probably now dead.

MONTREAL

I did one semester at McGill University studying law in 1994. It was my first time living out of home, and I shared a house with nine other international students. Our landlord was crazy. He'd sneak into the house at night and put away dishes we'd left unwashed. Montreal was amazing – cosmopolitan and lively. I put on 10 kilos drinking "red beer" and eating maple syrup pancakes. Rue St Laurent was Paris without the architecture, and we went out there at every opportunity. I'll never forget magical autumn leaves, fashionable francophones, and daily jogs up the mountain.

BOLIVIA

My first destination on the ABC's Race Around the World was La Paz. The plane arrived at dawn, and driving into that treeless moonscape as the sun rose with the opportunity of a lifetime in front of me, now seems like the moment my adult life began. I filmed my story in San Pedro prison, and "bribed" my way in by giving the minister some kangaroo pins for his kids. The women in bowler hats, the buzzing markets, the kid who pinched my Visa card, the priest who blessed cars on the shores of Lake Titicaca – an amazing 10 days.

KAISERSLAUTERN

For fans of the Socceroos, those funny four syllables are etched into our sporting consciousness. I was there at World Cup 2006. Firstly, for those berserk eight minutes against Japan, and the ensuing post-match celebration on "Burger King Corner" as we sang a sleepy German military town to life. I was also there two weeks later, when Lucas Neil brought down Fabio Grosso and the party imploded. In a life of watching sport, Kaiserslautern owns the highest high and the lowest low. It also boasted perfect pre-match sausages.

Tony Wilson is an author of books for adults and children. His most recent is The Cow Tripped Over the Moon (Scholastic Australia, $24.99) about the cow's previous seven attempts on the moon.