On a recent trip to Barcelona, I found that even the small amount of Spanish I learned at high school went a long way in enabling me to communicate with the locals. I had also topped up my school work by listening to Spanish audio books which were narrated by native speakers, and this was the key. Its fine to get a textbook and learn vocabulary and to some extent grammer but pronunciation will never be correct without listening to native speakers.

Another benefit is that the audio books were prepared on a conversational basis, just a typical conversation between two people talking about everyday matters.
I think as well when you do make an effort to speak the language that the locals respond better to you than if you ask questions in english.
Isn't it great that there are plenty of websites around where you can download Spanish language audio books instantly and start learning within minutes. This is technology for you. No need to go downtown to the library anymore.