It’s 3 a.m and I could not be more comfortable until I open my eyes and realize my entire room is sculpted out of ice and snow. My body is warm until thoughts start running through my head about where I am. I’m sleeping on a slab of ice and reindeer skin, far from my california-king sized tempurpedic mattress in Florida.

My mom has always dreamed of visiting the ice hotel in Sweden for years. She even put it on her bucket list, a list of things she wants to do before she dies. Being born and raised in subtropical Sarasota, I was highly against this idea. I like laying out in the sun in shorts, not wearing ten layers of clothes just to keep warm.

Luckily for me, Sweden is a long way away and we could never find a time to go. But my mom’s opportunity came when my cousin invited us to her wedding in Stockholm over mid-winter break. My mom eagerly booked tickets and a room in the ice hotel, called ICEHOTEL.

Packing my bags full of new North Face jackets, long pants, and boots felt a little strange. Prior to this trip, I owned very few cold weather clothes. We boarded our first flight out of Sarasota on Tuesday, February 18th. This was the start to a long day as we had to fly first from Sarasota to Atlanta, then Atlanta to London, and London to Stockholm.

All was going well until we left London. About 30 minutes into our flight, the flight attendants began rushing around latching doors, and making sure all seat belts were “securely fastened.” This was when we knew something was going wrong.

Everyone working on the plane picked up their phones at once on a call to the pilot. We began to turn back towards London. A couple minutes later, the pilot came on the loudspeaker informing us that we were experiencing technical difficulties and that the plane must turn around for an emergency landing back in London. My mom was freaking out as she hates flying anyways. This was not how our vacation was supposed to start.

After we landed safely back in London they informed us that the pilot’s windshield had shattered.

We changed planes after about four hours, and we were finally on our way to Stockholm. For the next four days, we stayed with my cousins in the city and attended the wedding. Eventually, it was time to pack our small suitcases for the short trip up to Jukkasjarvi, a town 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.

The plane ride was simple and after roughly an hour, we landed in the Kiruna airport. De-boarding the plane, we met a lady standing with our name on a sign. She led us outside where we could hear many dogs barking and howling. We entered a small hut where we could put more layers of clothes on and we even got a snowsuit given to us by the hotel.

Six layers of clothes later, I was ready to go. We sat on our very own dogsled as the leader yelled “Go”! The dogs began running faster than I had ever expecting and continued doing so for over an hour with only on short stop.

We passed over lakes, fields, and roads, but finally arrived at our destination. The ICEHOTEL. It sat in the middle of a lake with ice sculptures decorating the entrance. There was nothing but ice and snow.

We checked in to our room and after a quick tour of the hotel and a briefing on how to survive the night, we were on our own. Around six in the evening, we loaded on to a van to take us on our next adventure, snowmobiling. My mom was terrified when she heard that we would be driving our own “killing machines.” We drove around for half an hour until our leader stopped us in the middle of nowhere for a break.

We made a fire in a small cabin and ate elk and reindeer meat. After we were satisfied, we hopped back on our snowmobiles to return to the hotel. Dinner was next. The hotel has its very own restaurant including an ice menu where all meals are served on a slab of ice from the river. I ate swedish meatballs and for dessert I had a chocolate truffle that was presented on ice.

Halfway through enjoying my dessert, the waitress came through the restaurant yelling that you could see the northern lights from outside. This was also on my mom’s bucket list so she grabbed my hand and dragged me out into the cold.

By the time we got outside, they were nowhere to be seen as we sadly walked back inside to pay. After we left dinner, my mom and I went down to the lake to hopefully see the northern lights. Two hours later, with frozen fingers, we saw green flashes across the sky. Northern lights: check.

Returning to our room wasn’t much of a relief as it was just as cold inside as outside. I changed into my pajamas that included two pairs of pants and three shirts. Then I proceeded to crawl inside my thermal sleeping bag and pull it over my head. To my surprise, it was actually pretty warm!

I got about five hours of sleep until I gave up and went to the warm part of our room to sleep for the rest of the night. A worker in the hotel woke us up at seven in the morning with warm cups of lingonberry juice. Just what I needed.

Breakfast was served and after bacon and pancakes, I was satisfied. Packing up our room was bittersweet, but I was excited to get back to the warmth. When we checked out of the hotel, they awarded us with diplomas for surviving the night.

Our trip back to Florida was long, but simple. I never thought I would say this, but the humidity in Florida had never felt so good. My mom can finally check the ICEHOTEL off her bucket list, and I can proudly say I survived.