You get to Svalbard by boat and plane from Norway. Up there you can watch Polar bears and go on Snow scooter tours. Its an University up there too. Actually the most effiecient coal mine in the world is located on Svalbard.
Well, sir, I'm going to check out Svalbard, for a potential future trip--but not next week or next month, or anything, but just some time in the indefinite vague future, whenever I get the wanderlust again.
The climate should suit me fine, in the winter.
I spent three winters in England, one in Scotland, one in France, one in Ireland, and an entire year wandering around the former Soviet Union, where it was mostly winter all year round anyway.
When it comes to "cold," nothing is colder than New Jersey in the winter (where I spent two winters)--Free Republicans from Minnesota and Michigan might insist that their states are cold, but Minnesota and Michigan are like Miami Beach, when compared with standing on the sea-shore of New Jersey in the middle of January.