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ShoreTrips’ business is booming, so you’d think owners Julie and Barry Karp could relax a bit. The couple developed a great niche arranging land tours for Caribbean cruise ship travelers. While cruise vessels have been disgorging hordes of passengers into ports and onto buses and walking tours for decades, their operators faced increased competition from landlubbers when the Karps founded their firm in 2001.

Since then, the Karps have located tour operators in scores of port cities and used them to deliver less costly and more intimate and original port experiences than the big ships offer. Clients come mostly through travel agents, who get commissions on any ShoreTrips tours they sell. The Karps put 75,000 travelers on their tours in 2006, and 100,000 last year. The firm has expanded into 38 Caribbean ports, Alaska, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic. Revenue hit $7.5 million in 2007 (up from $4.8 million in 2006), most of which went to the 2,400 tour operators with which ShoreTrips works. The Karps netted several hundred thousand dollars.

While other firms offer land excursions for cruisers, the Karps say these rivals aren’t hurting their business. Still, most vacationers on cruises, unaware of -ShoreTrips, opt for tours arranged by their ships. The Karps have approached cruise lines about teaming up but have gotten the cold shoulder. They suspect that’s because land excursions are profitable for the lines, which squeeze tour operators for lower prices than the Karps demand.

Like most of Europe, France has some changes in store for visitors in 2008, starting at the veru top. France’s newly elected president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and recently appointed prime minister, Francois Fillon, appear to be America-friendly, so we can expect no more cries for Freedom Fries from people who don’t get out much.

Travelers will encounter some construction headaches at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, as it continues major renovations. While getting into Paris may be a little bumpy, getting out is slicker than ever with the opening of new bullet train lines. The big news in northeast France is the TGV Est bullet train, serving Reims, Verdun, Colmar, Strasbourg and beyond. It has cut travel times in half, bringing Reims within 45 minutes of Paris, and Colmar within 2.5 hours of the capital.

The healthy trend is hitting smokers, too. The French have followed the Irish and Italians in making all bars, restaurants and cafes smoke-free (those sitting outside can still light up). This could be a challenge in a culture so wrapped up in cafe sitting, where people have a decades-old ritual of stopping at the corner cafe for a drink and a smoke. But the movement against second-hand smoke is strong throughout Europe and, as country after country adopts bans, smokers adjust and life goes on.  Sounds like I might have to travel to France to enjoy this non-smoking hospitality.

Amir Khan says he becomes frustrated and humiliated every time he enters the United States and federal agents search his computers. Khan, a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen, says it has happened five times since 2003 and it is happening more often that we would like to even know about..

He says agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection have even forced him to give them access to password-protected, confidential information from his company and his banking records. An IT consultant who travels to Europe, Turkey and Pakistan, Khan says he has cooperated with the questions and searches but feels by now border agents should know he doesn’t pose a threat.

Situations for travelers such as Khan are at issue in a lawsuit filed last week by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Asian Law Caucus in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The suit accuses customs agents of “lengthy questioning and intrusive searches” and seeks clarification on the law that allows such searches.

The San Francisco, California-based foundation, which works to defend people’s rights in the digital world, says it knows of more than a dozen cases in which electronic devices such as cell phones, BlackBerries, MP3 players and laptops have been searched by customs agents. In some cases, they have been confiscated and never returned.

As always it is very tough to judge how far the authorities powers should extend while protecting the masses.