I finally had the chance to stay in a snow hotel along the Arctic Circle this year. I didn't last the night.

Huskies outside the hotel and the author upon arrivalIan Lemmin-Woolfrey

• Every winter, Ulrike Lemmin-Woolfrey and her husband make it a point to travel somewhere cold.
• This year, they spent $600 for one night at a snow hotel along the Arctic Circle in Kirkenes, Norway.

Sleeping on a bed made from ice, surrounded by walls made from ice, within a building made from ice, had been on my bucket list for years. I'm what you might call a snow tourist, a habit that started while I was living in the Middle East, where it never snows — back then, the ski slopes inside shopping malls just didn't cut it.

Every winter, my husband and I travel somewhere cold. This February, it was finally time to tick an ice hotel stay off my list, so I planned a trip along the Arctic Circle.

Snowhotel Kirkenes was our first stop, followed by a drive from northern Norway to Finland where we went skiing in Lapland.