Who needs Hawaii when you can fly to Oslo or Stockholm from Oakland for $236? Nonstop, on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, no less.

Norwegian Air Shuttle begins twice-a-week flights to and from Stockholm and three times a week to Oslo in May. The budget airline, which launched flights to New York and Fort Lauderdale three months ago, is also introducing nonstops from Oakland to Los Angeles, part of its intended expansion into the California market.

"Our entry into long-haul, intercontinental markets continues and we are pleased to launch the San Francisco Bay Area service at Oakland International Airport," said CEO Bjørn Kjos. "There's great demand for high-quality flights at a low fare between the two continents."

MBA BY THE BAY: See how an MBA could change your life with SFGATE's interactive directory of Bay Area programs.

Oakland officials are equally pleased. "The new intercontinental flights from this growing and profitable European carrier are a significant development for the Bay Area and for OAK," said Deborah Ale Flint, director of aviation for the Port of Oakland, which owns and operates Oakland International Airport.

Norwegian Air Shuttle is Europe's fourth-largest low-cost airline, and has reportedly taken away a considerable amount of business from SAS, whose U.S. routes include SFO . The $236 "introductory" one-way fare - compared with SAS' lowest round-trips, starting at over $900 -is likely to take away some more.

"We believe that the U.S is low-hanging fruit," said Kjos "People love to fly cheap and they love to fly far."

As with all introductory fares, you might want to book early to take full advantage.

Calendar item: Attention fashionistas on a limited budget: Uniqlo, the Japanese casual-wear retailer, has opening dates for the four Bay Area stores it announced last month.

-- Oct. 11: Hillsdale Shopping Center, San Mateo;

-- Oct. 18: Stonestown Galleria, San Francisco;

-- Oct. 25: Westfield Valley, Santa Clara;

-- Nov. 1: Bay Street, Emeryville.

With six other stores on the East Coast scheduled to open in the same time frame, the company's U.S. footprint grows to 17, including its flagship at San Francisco's Union Square, which debuted last October. The difference: The 10 new ones are all mall stores and smaller than the flagships.

Uniqlo's stated objective: $50 billion in sales worldwide, $10 billion from the 200 stores it plans to have in the U.S. by 2020. Right now, 77 percent of its revenue comes from its 847 stores in Japan, out of 2,327 globally. While same-store sales in Japan increased 29 percent in August, according to the company's parent, Fast Retailing, sales so far at its U.S. stores have been less than hoped.

"We had expected to reduce the operating loss at Uniqlo USA during the second half of fiscal 2013. However, earnings in the third quarter hovered stubbornly at previous-year levels," the company stated in an earnings report in July.

-- To staff the new stores, in the Bay Area and elsewhere, Uniqlo is looking to hire "several hundred full-time and part-time employees at all levels" ( www.uniqlo.com/us/

uniqlo-careers).

In your dreams: If money weren't an issue, what would you really like to be doing with your work life, a recent survey asked of 1,000 Americans, split between Baby Boomers and Millennials.

First, with 42 percent of the vote: "helping others," meaning nursing, social work, human rights, philanthropy. Far behind came teaching, with 15 percent; artist (sculptor, painting, musician), 13 percent; inventing things, at 9 percent; and athletics, 4 percent.

"No thanks, show me the money": 13 percent. Broken down, that represented 11 percent of Millennials and 13 percent of Boomers, according to the survey conducted by Monster.com and market research company GfK (www.bit.ly/15qHwZE).

See, we're not so different after all.