My experience
I am not interested in classroom training. So, I was searching for online REPs during 2014 for training and landed in this site. Gained some confidence going through all the success stories in this site and then
Step 1: Registered for prepcast and went through all the videos and took the exam.
Step 2: Applied for PMP. Unfortunately, selected for audit and had to send across the docs to US which is a bit of work but was happy once those are verified successfully.
Step 3: Read PMBOK 5th edition once.
Step 4: After getting good confidence, selected date for exam.
Step 5: Targeted to complete Rita's PMP exam prep 8th edition before 1 week of exam and did it.
The last week I just spent recollecting some of the topics and then took the exam after and passed.

Thanks to cornelius fichtner and also, i used to go through this forum for success stories which kept me more focused. So, even if it is late, I wanted to share my overall exp. And, all the best to all who are planning to take exam in 2018.